Glass JT xa_3J 

Book ,E>n^S4x 



PRESENTED BV 




I" 



4 



CASE OF VENEZUELA. 



BRIEF 

CONCERNING THE QUESTION OF BOUNDARY BETWEEN 
VENEZUELA AND BRITISH GUIANA. 

BY 

WILLIAM L. SCRUGGS 

OP COUNSEL. 

SUBMITTED TO THE TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATORS CONSTITUTED IN CONFORMITY WITH 
THE TREATY OF FEBRUARY 2, 1897. 



ATLANTA. 

The Franklin Printing and Publishing Company. 
Geo. W. Harrison, Manager. 



INTRODUCTION. 



On the 2d of February,, 
Treaty of Arbi- 189? the pi en ip ten- 
tratlon. . . : , 

tiaries or the Republic of 

Venezuela and of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain entered into a Treaty " for 
an amicable settlement " of the long stand- 
ing dispute " concerning the boundary 
between" that Republic " and the colony 
of British Guiana " ; and, to that end, 
" resolved to submit to arbitration " the 
whole question involved. 1 

This Treaty, a full text of which will 
be found in the Appendix, was duly rati- 
fied by both Governments, and the ratifi- 
cations were exchanged in the city of 
Washington, June 14, 1897. It contains, 
besides the preamble, fourteen articles, the 
first two of which relate to the appoint- 
ment and organization of the arbitral Tri- 
bunal, and to the manner of filling pos- 
sible vacancies therein. 

The third article provides that the Tri- 
bunal " shall investigate and ascertain the 
" extent of the territories belonging to, or 
" that might lawfully be claimed by the 
" Kingdom of Spain or the United Neth- 
erlands" (through which the disputants 
respectively claim title) "at the time of 
" the acquisition by Great Britain of the 
" colony of British Guiana " ; and that it 
shall u determine the boundary line be- 



1 See Preamble to the Treaty, App. p. 



4 



" tween the Republic of Venezuela and 
" the colony of British Guiana." 

The fourth article stipulates that, " in 
" deciding the matters submitted, the arbi- Art. IV. 
" trators shall ascertain all the facts which 
u they deem necessary to a decision of the 
" controversy 99 ; and that in the investiga- 
tion and decision, they " shall be governed 
" by " certain fixed "rules which are agreed 
" upon by the High Contracting Parties as 
" Rules to be taken as applicable to the 
" case ; and 99 also " by such principles of 
" International law, not inconsistent 
" therewith, as the arbitrators shall deter- 
" mine to be applicable to the case/' 

The Rules thus agreed upon are as fol- 
lows : 

Rules u (a) Adverse holding or pre- 

Agreed Upon. " scription during a period of Art. IV. 
" fifty years shall make a good 
" title. The arbitrators may deem exclusive polit- 
" ical control of a district, as well as actual settle- 
" ment thereof, sufficient to constitute adverse hold- 
''■ ing or to make title by prescription." 

" (b) The arbitrators may recognize and give 
" effect to rights and claims resting on any other 
" ground whatever valid according to International 
i( Law, and on any principles of International Law 
"which the arbitrators may deem to be applicable 
" to the case and which are not in contravention of 
"the foregoing rule." 

" (c) In determining the boundary line, if ter- 
" ritory of one party be found by the Tribunal to 
" have been at the date of this Treaty in the occupa- 
" tion of the citizens or subjects of the other party, 
<( such effect shall be given to such occupation as 
"reason, justice, the principles of International Law 
" and the equities of the case shall, in the opinion 
" of the Tribunal require." 

Articles five, six, seven, and eight of 
the Treaty fix the time and place for the 



Arts. V. to VIII. 



5 



meeting of the abitrators ; make provi- 
sions for the determination by them of "all 
questions " incident to the ease, including 
the final decision, " by a majority of all 
the arbitrators obligate each of the 
High Contracting Parties to appoint a one 
* % person as its Agent to attend the Tri- 
a bunal and to represent it generally in all 
" matters connected with the Tribunal 
they prescribe the time and manner in which 
the Case and counter-Case of each of the 
parties shall be made out and submitted ; 
and provide for argument by Counsel — 
oral or in writing, or both — before the 
Tribunal as a collective body. 

The remaining articles — from eight to 
Arts. VIII. to XIV. fourteen inclusive — prescribe the time and 
manner in which the final decision of the Ar- 
bitrators shall be rendered; make provision 
for the payment of the Agent, Counsel, and 
Arbitrators named by each of the High 
Contracting Parties, and for other expenses 
incident to the arbitration ; impose upon 
the Arbitrators the duty of keeping a record 
of their proceedings, and obligate each of 
the disputants " to consider the result of the 
" proceedings of the Tribunal of arbitra- 
u tion as a full, perfect, and final settlement 
"of all the questions referred." 

The dispute thus re- 
Origin of the ferred to friendly arbi- 
Dispute. bitration originated early 
in the present century. Venezuela, as a 
colony of Spain, declared its independ- 
ence in 1811; and in 1819 (having in 
the meantime maintained its independence) 
united with New Granada and Ecuador 



6 



(two other revolted Spanish- American- 
colonies) in the formation of the first 
Colombian Federal Union, which was- 
formally recognized as an independ- 
ent nation by the United States in 1822 r 
and soon thereafter by the other powers. 
In 1830 the Colombian Union was dis~ 
solved by mutual consent, when Vene- 
zuela resumed its independent position 
as a separate Republic, which was in due 
course formally recognized in that charac- 
ter, first by the United States, and subse- 
quently by the other powers. Spain, how- 
ever, withheld formal recognition till 1845, 
when by treaty of that date she, quite su- 
perfluously, "ceded" to the Republic the 
thirteen provinces (each by name, Guayana 
being one of them), which had constituted 
the old Spanish Captaincy-General of Ven- 
ezuela in 1810. 

By the treaty of London, August 13, 
1814, the States-General of Holland ceded 
to England, for a monetary consideration 
that part of Dutch Guayana described in 
the treaty as " the establishments of Dem- 
" erara, Berbice and Essequibo." The lo- 
cation of the divisional line between these 
three Dutch "establishments" and Spanish 
(now Venezuelan) Guayana, as it existed 
and was recognized in 1814, now con- 
stitutes the gist of the boundary dispute 
between Venezuela and British Guiana. 

This dispute arose as early as 1822, when Official Hist. 
Venezuela was vet a constituent member of « ° f un ^ ry oo o? is " 

J pute, pp. oo-oo. 

the old Colombian Union ; but it uever 
attained to much prominence till after the 
ex-parte survey by Schomburgk in 1840-1. 



7 



Id - Various efforts to establish a conventional 

boundary line failed, and in 1850 each 
party obligated itself to the other not to 
occupy or attempt to occupy any portion of 
the territory in dispute so long as the ques- 
tion of boundary should remain unsettled. 

Subsequently each party accused the 
other of violating this truce by attempting 
to exercise jurisdiction over portions of the 
disputed territory ; and this phase of the 
controversy finally led to the diplomatic 
rupture in 1887. 

This called forth, first, a formal tender of 
good offices, and subsequently the friendly 
intervention, by the United States. As a 
result of that intervention, in 1895, a Com- 
mission composed of five eminent jurists 
and publicists (citizens of the United States) 
ct Cong Ap were appointed by the Executive, with the 
proved Dec. 21, concurrence of Congress, " to investigate 
1895 - " and report upon the true divisional line 

" between the Republic of Venezuela and 
" British Guiana." 

This Commission entered upon the dis- 
charge of their duties in January, 1896 ; 
but, in February, 1897, before their report 
had been formulated and submitted, the 
present Treaty of arbitration was agreed 
upon. The Commission, then suspended 
their work, or, rather, withheld their de- 
cision, but continued in existence long 
enough to classify and print the evidence 
they had collected. 

That evidence is herewith submitted in 
nine printed volumes, entitled " U. S. Com- 
" mission on Boundary between Venezuela 
-"and British Guiana, Washington, 1896- 



8 



97," and will be cited in this paper, by vol- 
ume and page, as " Docs. Wash'n Comm."" 
The other evidence and documents herewith 
submitted, or authorities referred to, will 
be readily identified by the marginal notes; 
and citations in each particular case. 



9 



PART I. 

THE TERRITORIES IN DISPUTE. 

Under the general name of Guayana or 
Guiana is included that vast region on the 
northeastern part of the South American 
continent, bounded south by the Amazon, 
north and northwest by the Orinoco, east 
and northeast by the Atlantic ocean, and 
west by the continuous water-way formed 
by the great bend of the Orinoco, the Casi- 
quiere Channel, and the Rio Negro. 1 

Being thus entirely surrounded by water, 
Myers' Geog., Vol. Guayana may be compared to a vast island 
stretching from about 8° 20 r of north, to 
3° south latitude. Although within the 
tropics, such is its peculiar topographical 
conformation that it presents great diversi- 
ties of climate and soil, and is capable 
of producing almost every species of 
fruit and flower and cereal common to 
the three zones of the earth. Its interior 
auriferous districts, although as yet but 
imperfectly developed, are known to be 
very valuable ; while its geographical po- 

( sition, fine harbors, and network of naviga- 

ble rivers and canos make it a region of 
great future commercial possibilities. 

Towards the close of the fifteenth, and 
early in the sixteenth century, this region 

\ ^pp' 30*32 etleq. °f country first became known to Euro- 

peans through its discovery by the Span- 

1 See Atlas, Vol. IV., Docs. Wash'n Com. 



10 



iards. They were the first to sail along 
its coasts ; the first to ascend and explore 
its great rivers ; the first to penetrate the 
interior; the first to bring back reports of 
its wealth of gold ; the first to introduce 
Christian civilization there; and the first to 
establish European settlements there. All 
that other nations did or attempted was to 
follow them. 

Tli us it was that Guayana had been a 
Spanish possession nearly a century before Ib ' Id ' 
the Raleigh expeditions of 1595 and 1617, 
and still longer before the Dutch first vis- 
ited the country in 1598. 

The Dutch never succeeded in establish- 
ing themselves there till towards the close Infra, Part II. 
of the first quarter of the seventeenth cen- 
tury ; and then only by means of a bellig- 
erent corporation 1 which came into exist- 
ence at the close of the twelve years' truce 
in the long war between Spain and her 
revolted Dutch provinoes. 

The hostile possessions thus obtained by ib. Id. pp. 71-3 
Holland were confirmed to the States-Gen- et seq - 
eral by the Peace of 1648, when Spain 
acknowledged their independence. 

Through the various international 
changes and transactions, subsequent there- 
to, Guayana is now partitioned among as 
many as five separate and independent na- 
tionalities, namely, Portuguese (now Bra- 
zilian) Guayana ; French Guayana ; Hol- 
land still retains what is known as Dutch 
Guayana — having, in 1814, ceded to Eng- 
land the portion now known as British 



1 The Dutch West India Company, chartered in 1621. 



11 



Guiana; and Venezuela, as the inheritor 
of Spain, came into possession of Spanish 
(now Venezuelan) Guayana in 1811. 

For the purposes of our present inquiry, 
we are concerned only about the two last 
named, that is to say, the two adjacent 
portions belonging to Venezuela and Great 
Britain respectively ; for somewhere be- 
tween them is the rightful boundary line 
between the Republic of Venezuela and 
the colony of British Guiana " which we 
are seeking. 

Location of the The territories in dis- 
Territories in pute, then, as contem- 
Dispute. plated by the present 

Treaty of arbitration, are limited to the 
districts or tracts between the Orinoco and 
the Essequibo rivers. Or, to adopt the 
language of an acknowledged English au- 
thority, " the disputed territory commences 
u on the western bank of the Essequibo 
u river, and extends to an uudefined dis- 
" tance towards the Orinoco/' 1 

It will be observed that, if we accept 
this English definition, the British preten- 
tion has a starting point, but is practi- 
cally without a terminus. Spain always 
claimed, as Venezuela has claimed, the 
Essequibo river as the de jure bound- 
ary line. Holland, through which Eng- 
land derived title, never claimed any 
definite boundary line west of the Esse- 
quibo. While Great Britain claims some- 
times a fifth, sometimes a quarter, some- 
times a half, sometimes three quarters, and 

1 Mr. E. F. im Thurn, Magistrate of British Guiana, 
Docs. Wash'n Com., Vol. II., p. 710. 



L2 



sometimes nearly the whole of the territo- 
ries between those two great rivers. So 
that, to adopt the language of Mr. Bayard, 
Secretary of State of the United States in 
1885-9, the British claim is confessedly so 
indefinite that it naturally " creates an ap- 
prehension that it " does not follow his- 
torical traditions or evidence." 1 

Being thus indefinite and flexible in 
character, the British claim has not been 
always limited even to the Orinoco ; for 
within the last few years it has been so ex- 
panded as to include one of the main estu- 
aries, and one or more of the delta islands, 
of that river. We allude, of course, to 
the Barima Channel, and totheMoro Passage 
as part of that Channel (which taken to- 
gether constitute the eastern estuary of the 
Orinoco), and to Barima island, which is 
one of the delta group. 

Disputed Terri- More particularly de- 
tories, Three scribed,the territories now 
Distinct Tracts. [ u dispute comprise three 
separate, well defined Tracts, each of which 
is marked by natural boundaries of rivers 
and mountains, and may be conveniently 
classified as follows : 

1. The first and most important is the 
coast region or tract between the principal 
mouth of the Orinoco and the mouth of 
the Moroco, bounded north by the Atlantic,, 
and south by the unbroken range of Imataca 
mountains; a vast parallelogram contain- 
ing an area of some ten thousand square 



1 Inst, to U. S. Minister at London, Foreign Relations, 
U.S. 



13 



miles. It is watered by the navigable rivers^ 
Imataca, Aguire, Aratura, Amacuro, Barima 
and Waini, besides a great number of 
smaller streams and cross channels of 
canos, most of which are navigable, and 
all of which find an outlet in the eastern 
estuary of the Orinoco. 1 
Docs.Wash'n Com., The Waini and Barima rivers are con- 
IV., Atlases. nected by, or rather both disembogue into r 

the Moro Passage; a wide and deep chan- 
nel, navigable by the heaviest marine ves- 
sels, which, extending across from the coast 
to the western end of the Barima Channel,, 
forms the eastern boundary of the Island of 
Barima, one of the largest of the great delta 
group. 

The Amacuro and Araturo are similarly 
connected, farther up from their mouths, by 
a deep, natural channel called the Cayoni 
Passage; thus forming another large island 
of the delta group. And so in fact of all 
the other rivers named. All are connected 
by cross channels, through which the ma- 
rine tides flow alternately back and forth,, 
thus forming some half dozen or more 
islands of the great delta group east of the 
main estuary. 

On the coast, some 75 or 80 miles east 
of the Moro Passage, in about 58° 45' west 
longitude, and 7° 30 r north latitude, is the 
mouth of the Moroco ; a comparatively 
small but deep river, which has its sources 
in a northern spur of the Imataca moun- 
tains, and flows in general direction nortb- 

1 We do not except the Waini, because its present mouth is 
not on the coast at all, but in the northern arm of the Moro' 
Passage, which, together with the Barima Pass, constitutes 
one of the navigable estuaries of the Orinoco. See Maps Nos» 
i- 15, Atlas of the Wash'n Com. 



r 



14 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 



«ast to the Atlantic. Some little dis- 
tance above its mouth, the Moroco is con- 
nected with a navigable bayou of the 
upper Waini by a deep channel called 
El Cano Itabo; thus forming the eastern 
boundary of the long, narrow island, 
bounded north by the Atlantic, south by 
the Waini river, and west by the Moro 
Passage already described. Just above the 
western terminus of the Cano Itabo, and 
counected with it by the upper Waini, is 
the remarkable cross channel, Itabo Morebo, 
which connects the rivers Waini and Ba- 
rima; thus forming a second long, narrow 
island parallel with the first, having the 
eastern extremity of the Barima Channel 
for its western limit. 

Although this entire region, or tract, so Vol. IV., Atlas 
distinctly marked out by natural monu- 
ments, is in reality but an integral (and 
practically inseparable) part of the great 
Delta Region of the Orinoco, and is gener- 
ally so classified by modern geographers. 
We shall, for the sake of convenience, refer 
to it as the Northwest Coast Region. 

2. Back of this, to the southeast, lies 
the great Interior Basin of the Cuyuui- 
Mazaruni, a vast lozen-shaped tract, com- 
pletely cut off from the coast region by 
the Imataca range of mountains on the 
north, and still more effectually separated 
from the Essequibo drainage region by the 
great Roraime-Pacaraime range of moun- 
tains on the east and southeast. This last 
named range extends from the southermost 
corner of the great Interior Basin north- 
eastward across to the eastern spur of the 
Imatacas at the first or lower Falls of the 



15 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
Vol IX., Briefs 
and Notes. 



Docs.Wash'n Com., 
IY ., Atlas, Maps 
No. 1-11. 



rivers Cuyuni and Mazaruni, just above 
their confluence, some eight miles west of 
the Essequibo ; thus forming a natural bar- 
rier to the Interior Basin Region, on its- 
eastern and southeastern sides. 

The western side of this Interior Basiu 
is separated from the Orinoco drainage 
basin only by gentle slopes and undulating 
plateaux which form the water-parting 
rim; so that all the natural, and indeed 
only available, approaches to it are from 
the Orinoco side. 

This Interior Basin has been compared 
to a great dish which, " dipping northeast- 
ward, throws all its waters to what is virtu- 
ally a single point, where they break 
through the encircling rim, and thence flow 
down, in a single stream of less than a dozen 
miles in length, to the Essequibo." 

We shall refer to this as The Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni Region. 

3. The third tract is a small triangular- 
shaped strip of territory between the Esse- 
quibo and Moroco rivers, having some 
twenty-four miles of Atlantic seacoast for 
its base, the Essequibo river for its eastern 
side, the Moroco river and the northern 
spur of the Imataca range for its western 
side, and its apex near the first or lower 
falls in the Essequibo, a few miles above 
the mouth of the Cuyuni. 

It will be observed that each line and 
corner of this triangle is distinctly marked 
by natural monuments. Thus, on the sea- 
coast, we have the mouth of the Moroco,. 
which is the dividing line whence all 
northward is Orinoco delta, and all east- 



16 



ward is Essequibo delta. Following the 
well defined water-partings thence, with- 
out crossing a single stream or a single 
mountain range, we come to the next 
corner at the first or lower falls of the 
Cuyunij where that river breaks through 
the mountain rim at an altitude of more 
than 250 feet. The third corner is marked 
by the great geological break which, after 
making the first or lower falls in the Maz- 
aruni, crosses the Essequibo where it makes 
the first or lower fall in that river, some 
sixty miles from its main mouth. 

Within this Tract all the streams save 
one are mere tributaries of the western 
estuary of the Essequibo. The exception 
named is the Pumaron,a small river which 
rises at the foot of the water-parting ridge, 
already alluded to, in about 59° west long- 
itude and 7° north latitude; flows thence 
in general directiou northeastward to about 
58° 4' longitude and 7° 25' latitude, whence it 
turns sharply northwestward and runs par- 
allel with the coast, thus forming what is 
known as Cape Nassau, a little eastward of 
the mouth of the Moroco. 

The Wacupo creek, a small stream of 
a few miles in length, and nowise con- 
nected with the Moroco, except in time of 
protracted rains and floods, disembogues 
into the west bank of the Pumaron a few 
miles above its mouth. 

For the sake of convenience, we shall 
refer to this triangular strip as The Esse- 
quibo- Pumaron Region. 



17 



Topography of The Imataca range of 
the Northwest mountai alread re _ 

Coast Region. J 

ferred to, running almost 

parallel with the coast, forms a natural 
barrier between the Northwest Coast Region 
and the Cuyuni- Mazaruni Region. True, 
it is not so high and steep as the Roraime- 
Pacaraime range which marks the limit of 
the great Interior Basin on the southeast 
and east; but it is nevertheless an unbroken 
mountain wall ranging from 300 to 560 feet 
above sea level, and difficult to overpass. 
Indeed, so far as is known, there are but two 
passes over it, and these are so narrow, 
steep and tortuous as to be practically un- 
available. They were seldom used, even 
by the aborigines, in early times, and are 
less used to-day; the usual, and in fact 
only available route being then, as now, 
up the main estuary of the Orinoco to a 
point just above the Delta, and thence 
overland to the Interior. It was by this 
route that the Spanish discoverers and ex- 
In ^t a, seq V ' 81 32 plorers entered this great Interior Basin; 

and by holding the Orinoco as the gateway 
to it, kept all second comers out. 

Schomburgk, who, during the period of 
his ill-advised agitation, in 1841, passed 
over one of these ancient Indian trails in 
Br. Blue Book, the Imatacas to the head of the Acarabice 
Venez., No. 2, p. cree k ? and thence down to the Cuyuni, 
considered this mountain barrier sufficiently 
formidable to constitute " a boundary line 
on the principle of natural divisions"; and 
the British authorities of Demerara seem to 
have been of like opinion when, after their 



18 



armed invasion west of the Moroco, in 
1884-5, they attempted to establish what 
they were pleased to call " the Northwest 
District of British Guiana" with thelraataca 
range as its southern boundary. 

From the northern or coast side of thi< 
range, three short spurs break off at an 
angle of about forty-five degrees, on or near 
the 62d, 61st and 60th meridians respect- 
ively, and extend in almost parallel lines 
northeastward to the edge of the plane. 
On the sides of these spurs, and on the sides 
of the main range between them, are the 
sources of the five rivers Imataca, Aguire 
Amacuro, Barima, and Waini. All these 
rivers, after flowing less than half their re- 
spective distances northeastward, turn 
sharply to the westward, and run the bal- 
ance of their way northwest, parallel with Docs. Wash'n Com. 
the coast, and disembogue into the eastern I V^, Atlas, Maps 
estuary of the Orinoco, less than sixty miles 
apart, between the Imataca Island and the 
coast end of the Mora Passage. 

The two long, narrow, half submerged 
islands — parallel with the coast — formed 
by the Waini and Barima rivers, the Mora 
and Barima Passages, the Moroco river, and 
the Itabo and Itabo-Moreba canos, are in 
reality parts of the Orinoco delta group. 
For it cannot be said with any degree of 
geographical accuracy that either of the 
rivers Waini or Barima disembogue into 
the Atlantic ; since one flows into the Moro lb. Id. 
Passage and the other into the Barima 
Caiio and these two channels, taken to- 
gether, form what may be considered the 
most easterly of the Orinoco estuaries. 



19 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
Vol. IV., Atlas, 
No. 4. 



Ib, Id. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
IV., Atlas, Map 
No. 2. 



The two long narrow parallel islands, 
above described, are of pure alluvium for- 
mation; and the same is generally true, 
not only of Barima island, but of the entire 
Northwest Coast Region southward as far as 
the junction of the Amacuro and Yarakita 
rivers, and eastward from the Kaituma (an 
affluent of the Barima) to the Itabo Moreba 
channel. 

Back of this half submerged alluvium 
belt lies the narrow strip of granite and 
syenite formation covered with virgin for- 
est ; and back of this last, extending up to 
the foot of the Imatacas, is the broad belt 
of schist and gneiss formation, covered 
with forest and jungle. At the southwest- 
ern extremity of this tract, between the 
head of the Delta and the mouth of the 
Imataca river, and extending back some 
miles towards the Imataca range, is a nar- 
row strip of country usually described as 
" open, gently undulating grass land called 
savanna." To the southeast of this, along 
the foothills of the Imatacas, between the 
7th and 8th parallels, and extending several 
miles on both sides of the 60th meridian, 
are the rich gold deposits of this region. 
Topography of the Eecurrin g to the Cuy- 
uni-Mazaruni Region, at 
its extreme southern cor- 
ner, in about 5° 15' north latitude, and 60° 
45' west longitude, stands the famous Mt. 
Roraime. It is an enormous crab-shaped 
block of solid sandstone, several leagues 
in length and breadth, resting upon a region 
fully 5,000 feet above sea level, and ex- 



Cuyuni- Maza~ 
runl Region, 



20 



tending thence upward in almost perpendic- 
ular walls some 3,000 feet higher — thus 
giving an aggregate height of some 8,000 
feet above the sea. 

From this remarkable mountain a long 
arm stretches out eastward, between the 
Mazaruni and Essequibo rivers, some 160 
miles in length, to the junction of the Ma- 
zaruni and Cuyuni; forming the water- 
parting between the Mazaruni and Esse- 
quibo, and at the same time the southeast- 
ern rim of the great Interior Basin we are 
considering. This dividing ridge, at its 
lowest point, rises about 2,500 feet above 
sea-level; and taken as a whole, presents 
the aspect of an unbroken wall which is 
skirted, or rather cut into, at its base, on 
its northwestern or Basin side, by the 
river Mazaruni. On the right, or moun- 
tain side of the river, cliffs and precipices 
rise to altitudes ranging from 1,200 to 
2,000 feet, and extend almost unbroken the 
greater part of its length ; so that the sum- 
mit is accessible only where an occasional 
small stream, rising on its surface above, 
has cut a sloping cation down to the plain. 

The Mazaruni itself has its ultimate 
sources on the sides and crest of this dividing 
range, not a great distance from Mt. Ro- 
raime ; and from altitudes ranging from 
3,000 to 3,500 feet, the river cuts its way 
thence down through steep canons, and 
finally drops over the great Peimah Falls, 
where, in the language of a scientific ex- 
plorer, Mr. Barrington Brown, it " de- 
" bouches from the Sandstone mountains 
" to the great plain of its lower course." 



Docs. Wash'n Com. r 
IV., Atla 8 . 



Barrington Brown,. 
Assc. R. S. M., 
"Canoeand Camp 
Life," pp. 81-6, 
258, 376-98. 



21 



From the brink of the great escarpment, 
on a spur of this range, at an altitude of 
nearly 3,000 feet, Mr. Brown (who, as gov- 
ernment surveyor, explored this region in 
1875,) saw "the great level tree-clothed 
" plain through which the lower Mazaruni 
u winds " its way to its outlet at the ex- 
treme northeast corner of the Basin. 
^ 66 On another occasion, passing along up 

the Mazaruni for several days in succession, 
he saw " the edge of the great table-land " 
on the left, " rising to a height of over 
" 2,000 feet above the intervening forest- 
(e covered plain, with pinkish gray prec- 
ipices," and, at intervals, u huge wooded 
" bluffs." 

Of a point higher up the river he says : 

^ "Fine views were obtained of the eastern end of a 

' PP' ' ' huge flat-topped mountain called Waterbarru, with 
perpendicular sides of about 2,000 feet in height, 
near which was a high irregularly conical peak." 

"We passed on our way close under Waterbarru 
mountain, one of the jutting spurs of the great 
Sandstone mountains. Groups of trees grew upon 
it in clusters where they could gain a footing in lit- 
tle slopes, but the greater portion of its sides was 
composed of bare grayish and pinkish horizontal 
beds of sandstone." 

He thus describes his climb over what 
he calls a "pass" of this dividing ridge: 

" We ascended rapidly for many miles, having in 
two places to climb escarpments of over 400 feet 
each. Gaining a plateau 2,590 feet above the sea, we 
traversed it for some distance, coming out at 4:30 

lb Id 80 P ' M ' 0n ^ e e< ^> e °^ wnat a PP eare( i to be a precipice. 

' ' There the path led down at an angle of 60°, and long 

bush-ropes for the first hundred feet had been tied to 
the trees to assist in the ascent and descent of the 
place. The rest of the way was not so steep, but in 
places we had to grasp saplings and tree roots to 
assist in lowering ourselves down. We gained a 



22 



level place at the foot, 645 feet below the edge of the 
precipice, where there was a fine stream, at which 
we stopped for the night," etc. 

On the top of this plateau he saw " a lb. Id. p. 265. 
"high, massive mountain, 5,000 feet in 
"height," and the "pass" he crossed was, 
he says, " 3,327 feet above the sea." 

Such is the northern or Basin side of this 
dividing range. The most noted feature 
of its south flank is the great Kaiteur Falls, 
where the Potaro river drops over a prec- 
ipice of more than 800 feet high, above 

which " is a long:, sloping succession of Geogl. Survey, 

87 ^ * . Brown & Sawkins, 

" cataracts, which, taken together, give a pp. 288, 289. 

" height almost as great as Kaiteur." Above 
these is still higher mountain ground, nec- 
essarily extensive, where the river has its 
ultimate sources. 

The fact that all the waters which fall on 
the northern and northeastern sides (i. e., on 
the Basin sides) of the Roraime-Pacaraime 
group have to skirt the edge of this high 
mountain rim, fully 200 miles, to the ex- 
treme northeastern corner of the great 
Interior Basin, before finding an outlet over 
the first or lower falls, sufficiently demon- 
strates the character of this natural barrier. 

On the northern side of the Basin 
we find similar conditions. All the streams 
having their sources on the southern 
or.Basin side of the Imatacas, flow down 
into the Cuyuni, which skirts the extreme 
eastern end of that range a considerable 
distance before finding an outlet in the 
Great Falls, just above the Mazaruni junc- 
tion. Schomburgk, who, in 1841, while 
making his survey, passed down the Cuyuni 



23 



Br. Blue Book, from the Acarabisi Creek, and through the 
P * " mountain gorge at the eastern corner of 

this Interior Basin, just above the Mazaruni 
confluence, describes that point as " a small 
(i range of mountains through which the 
t( river has broken itself a passage.'' 
Henry I. Perkins, The nature of that " passage " is now 
m'ehr'i, June,^^ better known. It consists of a series of 
P- 75 - steep cataracts by which the river falls over 

200 feet in less than 30 miles. " It has long 
been known," says Surveyor Perkins, u as 
among the most dangerous, if not the most 
dangerous, of all the large rivers of British 
Guiana"; an obstacle which, he says, 
stopped all progress of settlement in that 
direction. 

Even Schomburgk admitted that " the 
" difficulties which the Cuyuni presents to 
p. 227. 6 °° ' " it' 8 navigation, and those tremendous 
" falls which impede the river in its first 
" days' ascent from the Essequibo, would 
" prove a great obstacle to making the fer- 
" tility of its banks available to the Col- 
" ony." 

The Local Guide of Demerara, a semi- 
official British publication of some nine 
hundred pages, containing the colony laws, 
regulations, civil list, etc., says of this 
region : 

Local Guide " " ^ e ^ an ^ s °^ ^ ne Essequibo are inhabited only 

1843, p. II. "by a few scattered wood-cutters; and above the 

"rapids, which occur about fifty miles from its 
" mouth, there are no inhabitants except Indians. 
" The same is the case with the two great tributaries 
"of the Essequibo, the Cuyuni and the Mazaruni 
" which come from the west and southwest. These 
" rivers unite about eight miles from the Essequibo, 
" and their united stream joins that river about forty 



24 



«' miles from its mouth. A short distance above 
" their junction, these rivers become impeded by 
" rapids, above which they are frequented only by a 
"few wandering Indians." 

Mr. E. F. im Thurn, member of the Royal 
Geographical Society, speaking from person- 
al knowledge of this locality, in 1880, says : 
u It is at present impossible to cut timber 
" profitably beyond the Cataracts, owing to 
u the difficulty of carrying to market. 
" This part of the country, which is inhab- 
" ited only by a few negroes and Indians," 
etc., etc. 

Above the first or lowest Cuyuni falls, 
he says, the country is " entirely uninhab- 
" ited except by a few widely-scattered 
" Indians of four or five different tribes." 

This was only seventeen years ago. 

Rodway, the historian of British Guiana, 
in speaking of the recent efforts to establish 
British armed stations in this great Interior 
Basin, says : 

" Another move in the same direction was made 
" in 1892, by establishing a boundary post up the 
" Cuyuni, near its junction with Yuruan. Except 
" for its bearing upon the boundary, this post is quite 
" useless and might be abandoned if the question 
" were settled ; under present circumstances, how- 
" ever, it is highly desirable that it be kept up, not- 
" withstanding the fact that the police who reside 
" there have to perform a very hazardous and long 
11 journey of forty or fifty days to reach it, and then 
" are cut off from all communication until relieved." 

It is manifest then, that the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni Region is a great Interior Basin 
of comparatively flat surface ; that along 
its extreme southern and southeastern edge 
the river Mazaruni wends its tortuous way 
to its lower falls, just above the Cuyuni 



Proceedings R. G. 
S„ 1880, pp. 465-6. 



James Rodway, P. 
L. S., Hist' Br. 
Guiana, Vol. III., 
pp. 280-1. 



25 



junction; that the Cuyuni, receiving all 
the waters falling south of the crest of the 
Imataca range, similarly skirts the north- 
ern edge of that Basin some distance before 
finding an outlet at its lower falls ; that 
the lower falls in both rivers are almost 
directly opposite each other, and separated 
only by a few miles of almost impassable 
mountain ; and that all the natural and 
available approaches to this region are, not 
from the Essequibo but, from the Orinoco 
side. And this, as we shall have occasion 
to point out further on, is precisely where 
ifra, Part II. ^ e history of the settlements in that region, 
and the habits of the settlers themselves, 
show the natural and only available ap- 
proaches to have been since the first dis- 
covery and exploration of the country. 

The western edge of this great Interior 
Basin merges almost imperceptibly into 
the rolling prairies of the Orinoco drain- 
age basin. Indeed, the water-parting be- 
tween them is of so gradual and gentle 
acclivity as to be scarcely perceptible, and 

may be overpassed without difficulty or 
oes.Wash'n Com., .. , r n ^ . 

Vol. IV., Atlas, even notice, bo that irom the Orinoco- 
Map No. 3. Caroni side, eastward as far as the Curumo 
(an affluent of the Cuyuni), is an immense 
area usually described as " open, gently 
undulating, grass land, called savanna 
while beyond this to the eastward, between 
the Mazaruni and Puruni, and extending to 
the gold-mining regions, is " the great 
tree-covered plain " or table-land. 

The richest gold deposits of this Interior 
Basin are located between the 6th and 7th 



26 



parallels north latitude, and the 59th and 
61st meridians west longitude. 

Topography of the With respect to the Es- 
Essequibo-Pu- r> r> 

maron Region m mh °- Fumaron ^gton, Docs. Wash'n Com., 
already described, little Jol ^V..^ Atlas, 



remains to be said. Its geological forma- 
tion is very similar to that of the country 
west of the Moroco and the water-part- 
ing ridge which separate the delta drain- 
age basin of the Orinoco from that of 
the Essequibo. On the coast, between 
the east bank of the Moroco and the 
western estuary of the Essequibo, and ex- 
tending back some three or four miles, the 
soil is pure alluvium. Back of this is the 
wider and more elevated belt of sand and 
clay deposit. And back of this last, is 
the granite and syenite formation, of little 
value for agricultural purposes. 

Such, in brief, is the geographical posi- 
tion, and some of the more striking topo- 
graphical and geological features of the 
territories in dispute; features which, it is 
scarcely necessary to point out, bear a 
most important relation to the merits of 
the case before us. We now propose to 
inquire, briefly as possible, first, into the 
original discovery, use and occupation of 
these three several Tracts ; and, second, as 
to whether any one of them as a whole ever 
belonged to, or might lawfully be claimed 
by, the United Netherlands, through which 
Great Britain claims title. 



27 



PART II. 

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION. 

On the discovery of the American con- 
tinent, the great nations of Europe were 
eager to appropriate to themselves as much 
of it as they could respectively acquire. 
Its vast extent stimulated the ambition and 
invited the enterprise of all, and the saw 
age character and nomadic habits of its na- 
tive inhabitants afforded an excuse for con- 
sidering them as peoples over whom the 
superior genius of Europe might claim as- 
cendancy. The rulers of the Old World, 
stimulated by self-interest, found no diffi- 
culty in persuading themselves that they 
made ample compensation to the inhabitants 
of the New, by bestowing on them Chris- 
tian civilization in exchange for political 
autonomy and unlimited independence. 
But as all were in pursuit of the same ob- 
ject, it was but natural that conflicting 
claims should arise between them; and in 
order to prevent or to amicably adjust 
these, it became necessary to establish some 
general principle, having the authority of 
public law, by which the right of acquisi- 
tion should be regulated between them- 
selves. 

The general principle adopted was that 
Marshall, C. J., ft . i , i 

8 Wheaton, 572. discovery gave title to the government by 

whose subjects or by whose authority the 

discovery was made; and that the title thus 



28 



acquired might be consummated, later on, 
by use or occupation. Title thus acquired 
presupposed an intention, expressed or im- 
plied, to use or occupy; but when duly 
authorized and publicly proclaimed, dis- 
covery was held to imply such intention, 
and, in the meantime, to vest in the dis- 
covering nation the right of political con- 
trol over vast unoccupied areas. It vested 
in the discovering nation the exclusive 
right of acquiring the soil from the native 
savage occupants, and of establishing set- 
tlements thereon. This was a right with 
which no Europeans could interfere. "It 
was a right which all asserted for them- 
selves, and to the assertion of which by 
others all assented." 

True, there was generally some pretense 
of respecting the Indian right of occu- 
pancy; but this was seldom more than 
pretense. In every instance the discover- 
ing nation asserted and maintained the 
right of ultimate domain, and claimed and 
exercised the exclusive right to grant the 
soil while it was yet occupied solely by the 
native savage tribes. Such grants were com- 
mon occurrences, and were uniformly con- 
ceded to convey good and perfect title as 
against all other European nations and 
peoples. The Indian tribes, in a savage 
state, had no such title to the land where 
they dwelt or roamed as enabled them to 
confer it upon another Government or its 
subjects, and any treaty or pretended treaty 
to that effect between them and a foreign 
Government or its subjects was null and 
void ab initio. 



Ib. Id. 

2 Paine's Reps. 457 . 
Wharton's Dig. 
ffl, 209. 



8 Wharton's Dig. 

543, 587. 
10 and 16 Peters, 

303 and 367. 
Kent's Com., III., 

pp. 360-400. 



29 



Whart. Dig., I., §2. 



Twiss, Law of Na- 
tions, §§111-114. 

Lawrence, Law of 
Nations, §93. 



Upshur, Sec. State, 
1843, Whart. Dig., 

In §2. 



Twiss, Law of Na- 
tions, §§115-116. 



Such was the settled policy of those early 
times, and an acknowledged part of the In- 
ternational code of the Christian world. 

Since then, the law of nations and the 
opinions of mankind in general may have 
undergone many changes. It would be, 
indeed, surprising if they had not. Yet, 
even now, notification of discovery creates 
such a presumption of intention to use or 
occupy as will be generally respected by 
other nations. Moreover, it is an acknowl- 
edged principle of modern international 
law that the right of nations to countries 
discovered in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries must be determined, not by the 
improved and more enlightened opinion of 
modern times, but by the law of nations as 
it was understood and acknowledged at the 
time of the acquisition. " It will hardly 
be denied," says an eminent modern jurist, 
" that rights acquired by the general con- 
sent of mankind, even under the crude and 
erroneous views of an unenlightened age, 
are protected against changes of opinion re- 
sulting merely from the more liberal or 
more just views of after times." 

Another fundamental principle applica- 
ble to the case before us, is, that where 
there is a well defined Tract, the boundaries 
of which are marked by natural monu- 
ments, such as rivers and mountains, dis- 
covery of a part is deemed to be a discovery 
of the whole; and the occupation of a part 
in the name of the whole, by the discover- 
ing nation, is, in law, an entry upon pos- 
session of the whole. Such discovery and 
occupation embraces the whole region 



30 



within those natural boundaries which are 
essential to the convenience and security of 
prospective settlement, the right of discov- 
ery being coextensive with such limits. 

In the application of these general prin- 
ciples to the case before us, it will be con- 
venient to consider, 

I. The period from the date of the first 
discovery of Guayana, in 1498-9 to 1648, 
when the Treaty of Miinster was signed; and, 

II. The period from 1648 to 1814, date 
of the final cession to England by Holland 
of the three establishments or settlements 
in Guayana, known as Demerara, Berbice 
and Essequibo. 

And first, briefly as possible, 

I. from 1498-9 to 1648. 

It was during his third voyage, in 1498, 
that Columbus, sailing under commission 
by Ferdinand and Isabella, discovered the 
island of Trinidad, the gulf of Paria, the 
Orinoco delta, and a portion of the North- 
west Coast Region of Guayana. 

One year later, in 1499, Alonzo de Ojeda, 
a Spanish subject commissioned by the 
Crown of Spain, skirted the entire coast of 
Guayana from the Amazon to the Orinoco, 
landing at several places, and taking formal 
possession in the name of the Spanish sov- 
ereigns. 

Later on, in the same year, Pedro Alonzo 
Nino and Cristoval Guerra, both Spanish 
subjects under commission, sailed along 
the Northwest Coast Region of Guayana, 
landed near the mouth of the Orinoco 
(most probably on or near the island of 



Irvine:, Life of Co- 
lumbus, B.X., loc. 
cit. 

Justin Winsor,Nar. 
and Crit. Hist., 
II. and III., loc, 
cit. 

Robertson, Hist, of 
America, II. 

Dalton, Hist. Brit. 
Guiana. 

Ib. Id. 



Irving, Voy. and 
Dis. 6, II., loc. cit. 



31 



lb. Id. 

Herrera, III., C. 10. 



Irving, Voy. and 
Dis., loc. cit. 



Kodway & "Watt, 
Annals of Guay- 
ana, I., pp 8-9, 
loc. cit. Winsor, 
II., III. 



Winsor, Nar. and 

Crit. Hist., II., 

loc. cit. 
Bod way & W., 

Annals Guay., I., 

pp. 9-11. 



Winsor, II., Ban- 
croft, Hist. Cent. 
Am., II. 



Barima), where they cut dyewoods for the 
European markets. 

In 1500 Vicente Yanez Pinzon, a Span- 
ish navigator under commission by the 
Court of Spain, was the first to explore the 
great Delta Region of the Orinoco. 

In 1502, Ojeda, during his second expe- 
dition, likewise under commission by 
Spain, sailed along the coast between the 
Essequibo and Orinoco, passed through the 
Serpent's Mouth into the Gulf of Paria, and 
thence out through the Dragon's Mouth to 
the island of Margarita. 

In 1530, Pedro de Acosta, a Spanish 
subject under commission, with two small 
caravals and three hundred men, came from 
near Cumana (where the Spaniards already 
had a settlement) to the mouth of the 
Barima river, intending to establish a col- 
ony there, but was defeated in his purpose 
by a tribe of native savages. 

In 1531-2, Don Diego de Ordaz, at the 
head of an expedition sent out from Spain, 
first explored the Orinoco river, which he 
ascended as far as the mouth of the Meta; 
penetrated the edge of the great Interior 
Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, entering it, 
as all subsequent explorers and adventurers 
entered it, from the Orinoco side, and sub- 
sequently received from the Spanish Crown 
the first grant of lands and government in 
Guayana. 

In 1549 an authorized Spanish expedi- 
tion under Ursura entered Southern Guay- 
ana by way of the Amazon and Rio Negro, 
passed through the Casiquiere Channel to 



:]2 



the upper Orinoco, and thence down the 
Orinoco to the Atlantic ocean. 

Thus, before the middle of the sixteenth 
century, and before the country had been 
visited by other Europeans, the Spaniards 
had completely circumnavigated the whole 
of Guayana. 

Between the years 1552 and 1569 there 
were more than twenty expeditions to the 
Orinoco, and thence to the interior; all of 
which were Spanish, commanded by Span- 
ish subjects duly commissioned by the 
Spanish Government. 

As early as 1568 the Spanish Govern- 
ment ordered that a survey be made of the 
territories of the Orinoco; and Pedro Ma- 
laver de Silva and Diego Fernando de Serpa 
were named as Governors — the first over 
the territories west, the second over the 
territories east of that river ; thus appro- 
priating the whole Orinoco drainage basin, 
from the mouths to the sources of that 



Ib. Id. 

Docs. Wash'n Com., 
IX., Brief. 



Ib. Id. 



Winsor, II., loc. 
cit. • 



Some time before this, the Indian village 
of Carao, near the mouth of the Caroni 
river, (found there by Ordaz in 1531-2,) 
had become the site of the first San Thome 
de la Guayana, which was sacked and de- 
stroyed by pirates late in the sixteenth 
century. 

In 1591, four years before Sir Walter 
Raleigh first visited the country, the town 
and garrison of San Thome de la Guayana 
were rebuilt by Antonio de Berreo at a 
point lower down the Orinoco (not far 
from the present Las Tablas or Guayana 
vieja), where they remained till 1764-5, 



Netscher, " Gesch- 
iedenis," &c, p. 
20. 

Span-Venez. Docs., 
I., C. VI., p. 30, 

Schomb.'s Raleigh, 
p. 79. 

Gumilla, p. 9. 



Ib. Id. 

Span-Venez. Docs. 
I. (Vol. VIII. of 
the Wash'n Com.) 



33 



Hackluyt, XV., pp. 

69-71. 
Span-Venez. Docs., 

V. I. 
Schomb.'s Raleigh, 

p. 79, note. 



Dutch Archives, 
Kep. & Docs. 
Wash'n C o m., 
Vol. II., p. 18. 

Ib. Id. Cabeliau's 

Kep., p. 20. 
Netscher, C. III. 



Hackluyt, XV., 70. 
80. 



when, by order of the Home Government, 
the town was moved up the river to a 
more healthful and available site, called 
Angostura ("the Narrows") now known 
as Ciudad Bolivar. 1 

Captain Lawrence Keymis, Raleigh's 
lieutenant, in his report reproduced by the 
Hackluyt Society, says he saw this town of 
San Thome" de la Guayana in 1597; and 
that on the river island of Faxardo, nearly 
opposite, the Spaniards had erected fortifi- 
cations which protected the town, and also 
effectually closed the river Orinoco to hos- 
tile fleets. The Spaniards appear to have 
been there in strong force, for Keymis re- 
ported that, up the Caroni there was un- 
doubtedly " much gold," which however 
was not accessible except by an armed 
force " sufficiently strong to attack and 
dislodge the Spaniards," who were then in 
possession. And this is confirmed by the 
subsequent report by Cabeliau in 1599. 

On the approach of the English, accord- 
ing to Keymis, the Spaniards stationed 
themselves at the mouth of the Caroni 
" to defend the passage to those mines 
" from whence your Oare and white stones 

1 Professor Jameson says, (Rep., June 11, 1896, 
pp. 39-40, Vol. I., Docs. Washn. Commn.) " the 
town of Santo Thome de la Guayana was founded 
by Antonio de Berreo probably in 1591 or 1592," 
which is the latest date given as the origin of that 
town. He predicates this upon a statement by Fray 
Pedro Simon, in his " Noticias Historiales," etc* 
This, towever, evidently relates to the second San 
Thome, rebuilt by Berreo not later than 1592. The 
weight of testimony is that there was a first San 
Thome, some thirty years bofore, situated farther up 
the river, as stated in the text. 



34 



lb. XV. p. 



i* were taken last yeere; we all not without 
" griefe see ourselves thus defeated and 
u our hungry hopes made voyde." 

Further on, in his report, Keymis says : 

" Sorry I am that where I sought no ex- 
" cuse by the Spaniards being there, I 
u found my defeat remediless." 

And again, that " the Amapagotos have lb. Id. p. 69. 
" images of gold of incredible bignesse, 
" and great store of unmanned horses of 
" the Caracas breed: and they dwell five 
" dayes iourney up the River about Caroli. 
" Wee, with our fleete of Canoes, were not 
" farre from Carapanas Port, when our in- 
" telligencer returned and informed us that 
" tenue Spaniards were lately gone with 
" much trade to Barima, where these In- 
" dians dwelt, to buy Gassani bread ; and 
" that within one day two other Canoes of 
" Spaniards were appointed to come by the 
" River Amana, to Carapana his Port." 

" Horses of the Caracas breed" were, of 
course, those which had been introduced 
into the country by the Spaniards. It is 
likewise manifest, from the last sentence in 
the above extract, that the Spaniards w r ere 
in frequent intercourse with the Barima 
region, " where only Indians dwelt." Gas- 
sani (cassave) bread was then, as it is still, 
the native staple food of the country, and 
the chief support of the rural classes. 

Sir Walter Raleigh made his first visit Schomburgk's I 
to the country in 1595. While near the eigh, 92, 149. 
mouth of the Caroni, bold and reckless as 
he was, he feared to venture into the in- 
terior, because having, as he says, but fifty 
trained soldiers, "the rest being labourers 



35 



Hackluyt,XV.,p.72. 



Rep. & Docs. 
Wash'n Com., 
Yol. I., pp. 40-42. 



Schomb.'s Baleigh, 
p. 98. 



and rowers/' he was unable to leave suffi- 
cient force to guard his base at the river, 
and then adds, significantly, that 

" without those things necessarie for their defence 
"they should be in danger of the Spaniards in my 
" absence." 

In other words, he apprehended Spanish 
reinforcements, not from Spain, but from 
New Granada and the adjacent Spanish 
settlements in what is now Venezuela. 

Keymis had the same apprehensions 
during the second Raleigh expedition ; 
for speaking of another place where there 
were but ten Spaniards, he said he was 
afraid to pass it, because they 

"might well before wee could do anything and 
" return cause some others of Berreo his men to 
" ioyne with them in the way to intercept us." 

It is very manifest from all this that the 
Spaniards already occupied the country, 
and had so knit together their possessions 
that the strength of the whole was avail- 
able for each of the parts; so that even a 
thinly settled district, such as San Thome* 
is alleged to have been, was already a 
stronghold and commanded the only avail- 
able entrance to the interior. 

Speaking of the region east of the Ori- 
noco, between the Imataca range and the 
Caroni river, Raleigh describes rich sa- 
vannas 

some sixty miles in length, east and west, as 
" fair ground and as beautiful fields as any man hath 
" ever seen, with divers copses scattered here and 
<' there by the river's side, and all as full of deer as 
" any forest or park in England." 

And in a note to this, Schomburgk says 
these are "the plains of Upata and Piacoa, 



36 



" formerly the site of numerous [Spanish] 
" missions." 

Now it was precisely across these open 
and gently undulating savannas that the 
natural approach to the great Interior 
Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni lay, and it 
is still the only available route thither. 
The traveller makes his way up the easy 
slopes to the top of the water-parting be- 
tween the Orinoco and the Cuyuni drainage 
basins, where is spread out before him 
an expanse of savannas as far as the eye 
can reach, inviting the settler to advance 
and take up his abode in a region unsur- 
passed in beauty of scenery and healthful- 
ness of climate. All other approaches to 
this region were (and are still) obstructed 
by natural barriers; so that the Spaniards, 
by holding the Orinoco, held the key to 
the great Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni. 

With respect to the Essequibo- Pumar on 
Region, while the evidence is less volumi- 
nous and direct, there is hardly room for 
reasonable doubt that the Spaniards were 
the first discoverers and occupants. Ojeda 
probably touched at the Essequibo delta 
during his first voyage, in 1499. In 1553 
the Spaniards appear to have held the en- 
tire river up to the first falls, some 55 or 
60 miles from the coast. In 1591, date of 
the rebuilding of San Thome, they had 
established a fort [El Bur go) at the junc- 
tion of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni. In 
1596 they were found in strong force on 
the Essequibo estuaries. Rodway, the 



Supra, Part I. 



Cartas de Indias, 
with sketch map 
(Madrid, 1877), 
in Cong. Library, 
Wash'n. 



Bodway, Ann. of 

Guayana (1887), 

pp. 7-47. 
Netscher, Ges. de 

Ko. Essequibo, 

(1888-96.) 



37 



Blue Book, Venez., 
No.l (1896), p. 4. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. I., 
p. 57. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. I. 
p. 137. Note. 



The British Con- 
tention as to 
Dutch Settle- 
ments Prior to 
1590. 



British annalist, and Netscher, the Dutch 
historian, both affirm that the river Esse- 
quibo owes its name to Don Juan Esse- 
quival, one of the lieutenants of Diego 
Columbus. 

The British assertion is 
that " there is abundant 
■ evidence coming from 
" Spanish sources that 
" during the latter half 
"of the century prior to 1590, the Dutch 
"had established themselves on the coast 
"of Guiana." 

This is only an assertion, and nothing 
more; for there is not a particle of evidence 
adduced in its support. The vague and 
indefinite marginal citations are to papers 
covering a period of more than a hundred 
years, and have been shown to be totally 
unreliable. 1 Prior to the year 1581, the 
Dutch had no national existence. Up to 
that time they were Spanish subjects, and 
such title as their explorations and com- 
merce could give, was the King of Spain's 
title. Even their declaration of independ- 
ence, first made in 1581, brought with it 
no pretense of claim to lands outside the 
Netherlands. The Dutch had not yet 
dreamed of such a claim. They had not 
yet so much as even visited any portion of 



1 Professor Burr, historical expert of the Washington 
Commission, speaking of this particular assertion of the 
British Blue Book, says : " I can only regret, as Professor 
" Jameson has already done, that no item of this ' abundant 
"evidence' has been given to the world, and must add not 
" only that 1 have found in Dutch official sources nothing to 
" support this claim, but that it seems wholly inconsistent 
1 with what I have learned from them." 



38 



the territories now in dispute. Indeed, it 
is extremely doubtful whether a Dutch 
ship had so much as visited any part 
of the Guayana coast up to the year 
1597. Certainly there is no well authen- 
ticated account of any Dutch vessel having 
visited Guayana before that time. The 
whole weight of historical evidence is that 
up to 1595, when Sir Walter Ealeigh made 
his first visit to Guayana, none but Span- 
iards had ever been there, and it is certain 
that none but Spaniards were then found 
there. 

It was nearly a century 
The Raleigh Ex- A ' * 

peditions. after the dlsc °very and 
exploration of the coun- 
try by the Spaniards, that Sir Walter Ral- 
eigh saw Guayana for the first time, and 
he was certainly the first of the second 
comers. After overcoming the Spanish 
forces at Trinidad, he ascended'the Orinoco, 
sacked and burned San Thome, 1 and made 
an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the 
interior. But wherever he went, he found 
the Spaniards in possession ; so that his only 
hope of success lay in driving out those who 
had preceded him in his pretended " dis- 
coveries To this end he sought an alli- 
ance with certain Indian chiefs, to whom 
he exhibited a portrait of Queen Elizabeth 
and promised to return and liberate them 
from Spanish dominion. Yet the only 
surviving Englishman whom he left in the 
country as an earnest of this promise was 
promptly arrested by the Spanish colonial 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. II., 
pp. 13-22. Note. 

Winsor, Vols. II 
and III. 

Hackluyt, So. Pubs. 



Winsor, II., III., 
loc. cit. 



Ib. Id. 



Rep. Don Roque de 
Montes, April, 
1596, Blue Book, 
p. 50. 

Injra, p. 50. 



[ i. e. The second San Thome\ rebuilt by Berreo in 1 591-2. 



39 



authorities, who warned the Indians against 
all foreigners. 

Immediately on his return to England, 
after this first voyage, and while planning 
for a second expedition, Raleigh wrote : 

" For wee are not to goe as CorteZ, Pisarro, or the 
Schomb.'s Kaleigh. " other conquerors against a naked, unarmed people 
" (whose warrs are resembled by some to the chil- 
" dren's play called Jugo de Canne). Butt we are to 
"encounter with the Spaniards, armed in all respects, 
''and as well practised as ourselves." 

He well knew that he was not going to 
contend with native Indians, but with 
Spaniards who had preceded him by nearly 
a hundred years. He well knew that the 
Spaniards had come to stay, unless, per- 
chance, he might forcibly oust them. He 
had no hope or expectation of ever reach- 
ing the fabled El Dorado, of which he was 
in search, without a desperate " encounter 
with the Spaniards," who held the only 
gateway to the interior. 

He sent out in all four expeditions. 
The first, that of 1595 already referred to, 
he commanded in person; but he found 
the Spaniards too strong to allow him to 
accomplish anything. The second, that ot 
1596-7, commanded by his lieutenant, 
Lawrence Keymis, was little more than a 
mere reconnoitering party. Keymis sailed 
around from near the mouth of the Ama- 
zon to the Orinoco, and up the Orinoco 
to the mouth of the Caroni ; and on his 
return home, wrote a careful account of 
what he learned, published by Hackluyt. 
He found that the Spaniards had every- 
where preceded him. He reported, in effect, 



40 



that they dominated the whole Northwest 
Coast Region, and guarded all available 
approaches to the great interior Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni Basin. The Spaniards had 
driven some smugglers out of the Essequi- 
bo-Pumaron Region, thereby asserting juris- 
diction. Near the mouth of the Moroco, 
Keymis says he was met by twelve canoes 
full of Indian warriors, ready to join him 
in a raid upon the Spanish settlements. 
But he was obliged to tell these Indians 
that he had not sufficient force to make 
any attack upon the Spaniards; and that he 
was there for purposes of peaceful "trade" 
only. He had indeed hoped to gain access 
to the interior directly from the coast, but 
found that impracticable ; the only avail- 
able route being from the Orinoco side, 
and that was still held in'strong force by the 
Spaniards. 

The third expedition, that of 1597-8, 
was commanded by Captain Leonard Berrie, 
another of Raleigh's trusted lieutenants, 
and is likewise reported by Hackluyt. It 
seems to have been a sort of tour of obser- 
vation, with a view to future plans and 
movements. Like Keymis, Berrie found 
the Spaniards everywhere in full posses- 
sion, and in such force that he did not dare 
attack them at any point. 



Cabeliau's 
Report, 
1599. 



In 1599 A. Cabeliau sub- 
mitted to the States-Gen- 
eral his report of the first 
authenticated Dutch voyage to Guayana. 
It will be found in full in volume II. of 
the documents herewith submitted. It is 



Rod way & Watt, 
Annls. of Guayana, 
I., p. 41. 



Dutch Arch., 
Docs.Wash'n Com., 
II., pp. 13-22. 



Netscher, C. III. 



41 



likewise quoted by Netscher, the Dutch 
historian, and is an independent confirma- 
tion of what Raleigh and his lieutenants 
show to have been the strength and per- 
sistence of Spain in holding the gateway 
to the great interior Cuyuni-Mazaruni 
Basin. This Dutch expedition, according 
to Cabeliau, went up the Orinoco 

" to the spot or place where the Span- 
iards dwell, called San Thome, of which 
"Don Fernando de Berreo is governor; 
"and they numbered there about sixty 
" cavalry and one hundred musketeers who 
" do not cease attempting to conquer 
" Guiana rich in gold." 

The Indians were already brought under 
subjection by the Spaniards, who, accord- 
ing to Cabeliau, "in order the better to 
" penetrate the interior " had begun to 
" make a road through the mountains, 
" about six days' journey south of the 
" Orinoco." 

This road, he goes on to say, was "about 
Docs. Wash^Com. 1,600 stadia long" (200 English miles), 
" and wide enough for five horses to march 
abreast." It must, therefore, have extend- 
ed far into Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region. It 
is well known that a road answering to 
this description, across the easy slopes of 
the Piacoa range of mountains by way of 
Upata to the savannas of the great Interior 
Basin, has existed from the earliest colonial 
times, and is to this day the used route to 
the Venezuelan mines in that region. But 
colonists who are weak, or hold territories 
by uncertain tenure, do not build such 



42 



roads : hence the necessary conclusion 
that the great Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni, if not already occupied by the 
Spaniards, was about to be so occupied. 

Cabeliau but confirms this where, fur- 
ther on, he says : 

" To sum up concisely, up that river [the Caroni] 
" there undoubtedly is much gold in the kingdom of 
" Guiana, but for tradesmen it is not very well pos- 
sible to expect any good to come therefrom, except 
" in case some considerable forces were available to 
" attack the Spaniards, which would be the only way 
" to get information from the Indians concerning 
" gold mines. For those who are enemies and 
" hostile to the Spaniards are friends to the Indians, 
" who always hope that they will be delivered from 
" the Spaniards by the Flamingos and Angleses." 

That is to say, none could penetrate the 
region of the fabled El Dorado except at the 
cost of war with the Spaniards, who already 
held the country. Even the fierce and 
warlike Carib Indians, though still refrac- 
tory and troublesome at times, were so 
intimidated, if not subdued, that they did 
not expect deliverance except through the 
armed intervention of some foreign power. 

Such then, were the facts, 
and the publicly known 
facts, at the beginning of the seventeenth 
century when Raleigh was already plan- 
ning his fourth and last expedition to 
Guayana. Pretending to have discovered 
a gold mine of fabulous richness, during 
his first voyage, 1 he now adroitly held out 
the idea that he could flank the Spanish 

1 Speaking of Raleigh's first expedition to Guayana, 
Hume, the British historian, says : " On his return, he pub" 
" lished an account of the country, full of the grossest and 
*' most palpable lies that were ever attempted to be imposed 
"on the credulity of mankind." 



Raleigh's Final 
Expedition. 



Docs.Wash'n Com., 
II., p. 19. 



Hume, H i s t . of 
England,Vol.IL, 
p. 90. (Ed. 1846). 
Note. See also 
Camden, p. 584. 



43 



Raleigh's "Apolo- 
gue." 



forces at San Thome and reach the interior 
without an armed conflict. What is more 
likely, he hoped thus to slip by the Span- 
iards so that they would have to attack 
him, and not he them. He could then 
say, with at last some degree of plausibil- 
ity, that he did not indeed " beginne the 
warre," nor seek to provoke hostilities 
with a friendly power. He had already 
dismissed from his mind all hopes of ever 
reaching the great Interior Basin except 
by the Orinoco ; hence this cunning sub- 
terfuge for a final advance by way of tha 



Schomb.'s Kaleigh, 
p. 165. Kodway & 
W., Annals of 
Guayana, I., p. 
57. 



Ib. Id. 172, 174. 



We read in his "Proposals" of 1611, 
that he wished to send Keymis with such 
men 

" as should be able to defend him against the 
" Spaniards inhabiting upon Orenoke if they offered 
" to assaile him (not that itt is meant to offend the 
" Spaniards there or to beginne any quarrel with 
" them except themselves shall beginne the warre). 
" To knowe what number of men shall be sufficient 
" may itt please your Lordshipps to informe your- 
" selves by Captaine More, a servant of Sir John 
" Watts, who came from Orenoke this last spring, 
" and was oftentimes ashore att St. Thome, where 
" the Spaniards inhabite." 

This expedition, being delayed, was 
finally merged into that of 1616-17, which 
was a most formidable array of military 
strength for those early times. It carried 
121 pieces of heavy ordnance in one 
squadron of seven vessels, and was soon 
joined by seven more armed vessels — mak- 
ing fourteen in all. 

Raleigh had already obtained a fair 



44 



knowledge of the country, and of the 
Spanish forces there. He knew by the re- 
ports of Keymis and Berrie, as well as by 
his own observations, previously made, 
that the Orinoco was the key to the Interior 
Basin which he sought to enter; and he 
knew that his entrance by this route meant 
an armed conflict with the Spaniards who 
held it. He knew moreover, that a part 
of the Spanish strength there lay in the 
ease with which reinforcements could be 
drawn from Cumuna, New Granada, Cara- 
cas, and other contiguous provinces. Above 
all, he realized the importance of keeping 
his rear well guarded. Hence he decided 
to remain with a part of his force at Trini- 
dad, and to send his son Walter and Captain 
Keymis to a point on the Orinoco below 
the town of San Thome. 

But even here the invaders found a 
Spanish town of one hundred and forty 
houses, a church edifice, two convents, and 
an armed force of fifty-seven men com- 
manded by the resolute and intrepid 
Geronimo de Grados. The English forces 
numbered four hundred men, or say eight 
to one. 

After a desperate fight, in which young 
Raleigh was killed, the English captured 
the town, and took up their march to the 
interior. But they had hardly proceeded 
beyond the range of their ship's guns when 
they were unexpectedly assailed by a strong 
Spanish force and driven back in confusion 
and dismay to their boats. After recovering 
from his surprise, Keymis thought of re- 
newing the attempt to reach the interior 



lb. Id. 92, 149, 215. 



Docs.Wash'n Com., 
Vol. IX. 



Winsor.Nar. & Crit. 

Hist.,&c.,IL,III., 

loc. cit. 
Hack luy t XV., 
Schomb.'s Raleigh. 

Fray Simon. 



45 



under reinforcements from his fleet; but 
learning that Spanish reinforcements were 
likewise approaching, he became alarmed, 
and after sacking and burning the town, 
beat a hasty retreat to Trinidad, where, in 
despair, he committed suicide. 

Of course the expedition was ruined, 
rinsor II III an( ^ Raleigh a doomed man. He was soon 
Hume^Hist.Eng., afterwards beheaded in London ; technically 
in execution of an old sentence for treason 
under which he had lain for 13 years; but 
really at the instance of the Spanish King, 
whose dominions he had thus invaded. 

It is impossible to disregard the signifi- 
cance of this bit of well authenticated 
history. The most accomplished and bril- 
liant commander of England, who for 
twenty years had been trying to penetrate 
the territories now in dispute, was not only 
baffled by the Spanish occupants at every 
point; but was beheaded for depredations 
upon what his own soverign conceded to 
be indisputably Spanish territory. 1 

Raleigh failed in his efforts to conquer 
Guayana, not for want of courage, money,, 
or munitions of war; but because the Span- 
iards, who had preceded him by nearly a 
whole century, already occupied the coun- 
try, and held it so strongly that he could 
not dislodge them. 

1 King James I., of England, in "A Declaration of the 
"Demeanor and Carriage of Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, as 
" well in his voyage, as in, sithence his Return," published in 
1618, for public justification of his course in ordering the ex- 
ecution of Raleigh, says : "Although kings be not bound to 
" give Account of their Actions to any but God alone," yet, 
" it is confessed by all that the parts of Guiana where St. 
" Thome 1 was situate, were planted by the Spaniards, who 
"had divers Townes in the same tract, with some Indians 
" intermixed that are their vassals." 



Hume, Hist. 
England. 



46 



No subsequent expeditions, prior to the 
existence of the first Dutch West Iudia 
Company in 1621, ever reversed or changed 
this status of affairs in Guayana. The sov- 
ereignty, if not the material occupation of 
each of the three tracts now in dispute 
remained with the Kingdom of Spain. 
Keither Jansen nor Raleigh nor Drake ever 
planted any settlements there. They did 
not even try to. They went there not for 
colonization or sovereignty, but to search 
for and plunder what the Spaniards said 
their lands contained. The Spanish coasts 
were often ravaged by pirates and free- 
booters; but the sovereignty of the country 
remained unchanged. In the language of 
Mollien, " The Spanish colossus remained 
u firm and unshaken : its coasts were rav- 
" aged, its seaport towns were burned, its 
u fortifications were besieged; but its ter- 
" ritory remained intact." 

Spanish Mis- Spanish settlements and 

sion Settle' • • , , • 

missionary stations soon 
ments. J 

began to spread eastward 

from the very scene of Raleigh's defeat. 
They extended along the eastern shores of 
the Orinoco some fifty miles below San 
Thome, and from the right bank of the Ca- 
roni to the Yuruary, and thence down the 
Cuyuni to the very center of the great Inte- 
rior Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni. Both 
Caulin and Schomburgk assert that the 
Spanish missionaries had begun their work 
there as early as 1576. In 1761 the Gov- 
ernor-General of Guayana personally visit- 
ed many of them, and made an official re- 



Mollien, Travels in 
Colombia, p. 124. 



Caulin, p. 9. 
Schomb.'s Kaleigb, 
p. 79. 



47 



Span-Venez. Docs., 
Vol. I., pp. 
203, 221., Docs 
Wash'n Com., 
Vol.VIII.,p. 220 
et seq. 



Humboldt, Vol. V., 

p. 769. 
Caulin, p. 9. 
Kodway & W., II., 

p. 64. 



Span.-Yenez. Docs., 
Wash'n Com., 
Vol. VIII. 



port as to their history and condition. A 
corresponding report was made by the 
prefect, Father Fidel de Santo. According 
to both, a register of baptisms then existing 
went back to 1664, showing that the "pa- 
cification and conversion" of the Indians 
was then going on, and the names of vari- 
ous early Missionary Fathers of the dif- 
ferent religious orders are preserved. 

In 1681, the Jesuits renounced these 
missions to the Catalan Capuchin order, 
who, according to Humboldt, were "more 
economical and active than the other mis- 
sionaries" ; and by the royal decrees of 
1686 and 1687, these transfers were sanc- 
tioned and confirmed by the court of Spain. 

In 1723-4, an entire reorganization of 
these missions was effected under the im- 
mediate auspices and protection of the 
Spanish Government. The plan of spe- 
cific missions, each with a definite founda- 
tion, was established ; and, soon thereafter, 
the adjacent territories were partitioned by 
the Government between the various reli- 
gious orders. Hence, in the annals of 
those times, the ct Mission Settlements" 
are commonly spoken of as dating from 
1723-4. That is true, however, with 
respect to the reorganization only ; for mis- 
sionary work among the Indians had been 
going on for more than a century before. 

If we would avoid errors as to the 
origin of these missions, it is important to 
keep this distinction constantly in mind. 
And it should be borne in mind also that 
these " missions," and mission towns and 
settlements were something more than mere 



48 



local ecclesiastical or eleemosynary corpo- 
rations under the immediate protection of 
the Spanish Government. They had, besides, 
a very distinctive civic and political char- 
acter. They were clothed with certain at- 
tributes of sovereignty; and their juris- 
diction often extended hundreds of miles 
beyond the immediate limits of the town 
or settlement into which the Indians had 
been collected. Their cattle ranches often 
covered vast unoccupied areas in the remote 
interior of what is now known as the Cu- 
yuni-Mazaruni- Region. Moreover, Church 
and State being then closely united, the 
mission Father was not infrequently the 
Alcalde or Prefect as well; and sometimes, 
as for instance in the adjacent province of 
New Granada, the Bishop of the diocese 
exercised the functions of Governor-General 
or Viceroy. 

Claims of Early We can readily under- 
Dutch Occupa- stand, then, how a misap- 
tlon - prehension as to the re- 

organization of 1723-4, led to certain errors 
of statement in the British Blue Books 
relative to the origin of these missions. 
But there are other errors of statement 
therein which are not so easily accounted 
for; as for instance, where it is said that, 

" In 1595, the English explorer, Captain Charles 
41 Leigh, found Dutch establishments near the mouth 
" of the Orinoco, a fact which is confirmed by Span- 
" ish sources." 

Unfortunately, the alleged " Spanish 
sources," are neither quoted nor mentioned; 
and the only citation in support of this 
startling assertion is Purchas 1 Pilgrimes, 



Kestrepo, Hist. 
Colombia. 



Blue Book, Venez., 
No. 1 (1896), p. 4. 



Rep. and Docs. 
Wash'n Com.. 
Vol. IX., " Falla- 
cies, " etc., p. 56. 



49 



pages 1250-1255. But the pages thus 
cited contain not a word about the Orinoco, 
nor about any Dutch establishments there 
or elsewhere ! The letter of Captain 
Charles Leigh, printed on page 1254 of 
Purehas' Pilgrimes, is dated July 2, 1604, 
and relates to his voyage of that time. If 
he ever made a previous voyage to Guayana, 
in 1595, no account of it has survived. In 
point of fact, however, this was his first 
voyage, for he himself says, in the very 
letter referred to, that it was during this 
voyage, of 1604, that he got his " first sight " 
of Guayana. He speaks of Dutchmen in 
the Amazon and in the Wiapoco — nowhere 
near the Orinoco, and hundreds of leagues 
eastward of the disputed territory. "At 
" my arrival here," he says, "I found a 
" Dutch Shippe, and sithence here hath ar- 
" rived another, they buy up all the Flaxe 
" they can get," &c. No mention is made 
of any Dutch settlement of any kind, 
either here or elsewhere. Neither is any 
such story to be found in the narratives of 
^ WaslJn (Jom° CS ' ^ e ig n?s companions. On the contrary, 
as Professor Jameson well points out, their 
accounts all agree with his; as for in- 
stance, on page 1264, of Purchas' Pilgrimes, 
Master John Wilson says: "This Sims was 
"Master's mate of the Holland Shippe 
" which Captain Leigh found in the River 
" of Wiapoco at his first arrival there." 
Again, the British contention is that, 

Blue Book p 4 " Tlie first settlement made by Spain in Guiana 

"was in 1596, when Antonio de la Hoz Berrio 
" founded San Thome de Guayana," &c.; and that 
" a despatch from Don Roque de Montes, Treasurer 



Jb. Id. 



50 



" of Cumana, to the King of Spain, dated 12th Apr il 
" 159G, shows that the Spaniards did not then hold, 
" any part of Guiana." 

Of course the San Thome here referred 
to was the second town of that name re- 
built by Berreo in 1591-2 — the first having 
been destroyed in 1579. In the letter of 
Don Roque de Montes, referred to, it is 
stated that he had previously instructed 
Captain Felipe de Santiago, of the Spanish 
military service, to " ascend the Orinoco 
and arrest two Englishmen " whom Raleigh 
had left there during his first raid in 1595, 
and also to warn the Indian Chiefs in that 
quarter not to receive any strangers, other 
than Spaniards. These instructions, he 
continues, were promptly and effectually 
carried out. The only surviving English- 
man had been arrested, and the Indian 
Chiefs warned as directed — acts which 
clearly imply Spanish dominion and sov- 
ereignty. If there were any room for rea~ 
sonable doubt as to this, it would be cleared 
up by his recommendation made in the 
same letter, namely, that better facilities 
be offered for navigating that river and its 
affluents ; the Orinoco being then, as it had 
been for more than half a century, and as 
it continued to be for nearly two centuries 
afterwards, the usual, if not the only avail- 
able means of communication between the 
coast and the remote interior Spanish set- 
tlements in what is now the Republic of 
Colombia. 

Again on page 5 of the Blue Booh, there 
appears as a quotation from a paper cited as 



Supra, p. 33 



Supra, p. 88. 
Blue B., pp. 50-51. 



Span-Venez. Docs., 

Vol. I., 
(Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. 
VIII.) 



Blue B., pp. 5, 56 



51 



Blue Book, p. 4. 



being reproduced in the Appendix to that 
compilation (page 56) the following, viz : 

" The Dutch settlements in Guayana extend from 
"close to the river Amazones to the Orinoco." 

Yet, neither in the particular document 
cited, nor in any others reproduced on that 
page, nor indeed elsewhere in the whole 
collection, is there such a statement, nor 
anything that can suggest or be tortured 
into such meaning. 

It is furthermore asserted in the Blue 
Booh that 



" Ibarguen in 1597 visited San Thome; he also 
" visited the Essequibo and reported 'white men,' who 
"can be shown to have been Dutch, to be settled 
" high up that river." 

For this there is only a general reference 
to a batch of letters covering a period of 
more than a whole century ; but no text is 
given, and no particular letter is cited. It 
appears however, from a recent letter of 
Docs. Wash'n Com., the British Colonial Office, addressed to 
Vol. I., p. 60. Prof. Burr of the Washington Commission, 
that Ibarguen, in a report dated from 
Trinidad, October 27, 1597, says that having 
accompanied Don Fernando de Berreo to 
San Thome, he set out thence on a sepa- 
rate voyage to the Essequibo, where he heard 
" very great news of men who were clothed 
and fighting with arms/' But who or 
what these men were, or when or how they 
came there, is not stated. Certainly the 
Dutch are not once mentioned; and who- 
ever the " white men " may have been, or 
whencesoever they came, there is not the 
slightest foundation for the inference that 
they were Dutchmen. And at best, the 



52 



whole story, like that of the " headless 
men" of Manoa, rests upon a mere fable, 
traceable to no definite or reliable source. 

Moreover, any inference that the Dutch 
had settlements or establishments of any 
kind in Essequibo at that date, is plainly 
refuted by the narrative of Cabeliau. For 
in his report to the States-General, already 
referred to, he distinctly states that, in his 
voyage along the Guayana coast, he and 
his companions visited more than twenty- 
four rivers (the Essequibo being one of 
them), many river islands, and various 
harbors, between the Amazon and the 
Orinoco, which had not been previously 
" known or visited " by the Dutch; "and," 
he adds u what is more, have not, been de- 
scribed or discovered in any charts or cos- 
mographies before the time of our voyage" 
in 1597-8. De Jonge says he found no 
evidence in the Hague Archives of any 
Dutch establishments in or near the Esse- 
quibo prior to the first quarter of the seven- 
teenth century; and we now know from 
authentic sources that the earliest Dutch 
voyage to the coast of Guayana was that 
of 1597-8 — reported by Cabeliau in 
1599. It was more than a quarter of 
a century qrter this that the first attempt 
was made to establish a Dutch settlement 
in the Essequibo. 

Professor Burr, in his 
*eport to the Washington 
Commission, sums up the results of his 
historical studies of this period as follows: 
*' 1. The earliest Dutch expedition to the coast of 



Prof. Burr's 
Conclusions. 



Docs."Wash ! n Com., 
Dutch Arch., Vol. 
II., pp. 13-22. 

Prof. Jameson's 
Rep., Vol. I., p. 60. \ 

De Jonge, I., p. 160. 



Ib. Id. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
II., 13. Note. 



53 



Hep., p. 165, Vol. I., 
Docs. Wash'n Com. 



Blue Book, Venez. 
No. 1 (1896), p. 4. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
Vol. II. 



Dutch Arch., Docs. 
Wash'n Com., 
Vol. II., pp. 3-8. 



Guiana, then conceived of as a part of the Spanish 
kingdom of Peru, reached that coast in 1598. This 
expedition was formally recognized by the Dutch 
States-General itself as one to a place theretofoie 
unvisited by Netherlander. 

2. The earliest Dutch settlement on this coast may 
possibly have been on the Amazon in the j^ear 1600; 
but the earliest date at which the existence of any 
Dutch occupation can be affirmed with certainty, or 
even with probability, is the year 1613. 

3. Of any claim by the Dutch to Guiana as a 
whole, or to any part of its western coast, there is 
thus far no intimation." 

Of course the j ossible Dutch occupa- 
tion iu 1613 (for it is only a possibility) 
relates, not to auy part of the territories 
now in dispute ; but to territories on the 
opposite side of the continent, in what is 
now the Republic of Brazil. 

Again, we have the British assertion 
that, 

"Early in the seventeenth century, vari- 
il ous Dutch Companies, afterwards merged 
" into the great West India Company 
" were employed in colonizing Guiana, and 
" had established several settlements there 
"before 1614." 

It is quite impossible to reconcile this 
statement with the Dutch archives cover- 
ing the period from 1581 to 1614. Not 
only do those archives fail to support such 
an assumption, but they directly contra- 
dict it. A short historical review of the 
33 years from 1581 to 1614, will make this 
manifest. 

In June, 1581, as appears from the 
official proceedings of the provincial estates 
of Holland, an Englishman named Batz 
(or Butz) proposed to undertake "a voyage 



54 



to the Indies" in " the name of the cities 
of Holland," provided they would furnish 
" three or four serviceable ships and place 
" on board certain experienced persons." 
He furthermore proposed that, on his 
return, he would "land these here in Hol- 
land," and that the cities of Holland should 
receive "such profits" of the voyage as 
might be previously agreed upon. 

This proposition was referred to a Com- 
mittee of Conference, which, in due 
course made their report. But final action 
was deferred till July 22d of that year, 
when the Estates decided that "in view 
" of the great burdens of the land for carry- 
ing on the war" with Spain, it would be 
inexpedient to fit out the ships required 
for the proposed voyage. They, however, 
expressed a desire to see the voyage 
promoted, and promised to "look on with 
"approval if auy private individuals in 
"the cities of Holland" would aid the 
project. The project, however, was never 
carried out. 

Yet it is on such evidence as this, and 
on such as this alone, that rest ultimate- 
ly the British claim that " so early as 1580 
" the Dutch attempted to form small settle- 
" ments on the banks of Orinoco and Pum- 
" aron," and that "the States-General privi- 
" leged,in 1581, certain individuals to trade 
" to their settlements !" 

In March, 1597, at the request of cer- 
tain merchants of Rotterdam, the States- 
General granted a commission and pass- 
port to one Jacob Henrisz to go with his 



lb. Id. p. 8. 



Ib. Id. p. 8. Note. 



Blue Book, No 
pp. 22-25. 



Dutch Arch., 
Wash'n Com. 
pp. 9-10. 



Docs. 
II., 



55 



ship den Rooden Leeuw "to the coasts of 
Guinea, [in Africa, not Guiana in America,] 
''Peru, and West India, and there trade 
" with the savages"; 1 and it appears from 
lb. Id. pp. 9-10. the su b S equent proceedings of the States- 
General (in September of the same year) 
that, up to that time, Dutch ships had not 
so much as visited the coasts of Guayana. 

On final reference of a proposal to grant 
exemption of convoy dues "to others who 
"shall likewise desire to go to other un- 
" known havens," the deputies of Zeeland 
declared themselves " uninstructedto grant" 
such privileges, and Professor Burr says 
there is nothing further of record in regard 
to any of these proposed voyages. 

In December of the same year (1597) 
exemption from convoy dues was granted 
to " skipper Jan Cornelisz Leyn, of the 

II., pp. 10-11. " " ship Sphera Mundi, citizen of Enkhuizen, 
" both for himself and also in the name 
" and behalf of the rest of his Company " 
to sail " to the Land of Guiana, situated in 
"the Kingdom of Peru"; provided that, 
on their return they should " bring satis- 
" factory evidence that never anybody from 
"these lands 2 has traded to the aforemen- 
" tioned havens." Cabeliau, in his elab- 
orate report of the expedition of 1597-98 
(submitted February 3, 1599), mentions 
lh Id II pp 16- having met the Sphera Mundi on the Guay- 

21. Note, p. 11. ana coast, but as Prof. Burr has well 
pointed out, if there was ever any separate 



1 Trade to Guinea, in Africa, had been going on since 1593; 
Does. Wash'n Com , and subsequently the trade route to Peru ani Brazil was by 
II., p. 9. Note. way of the African coast. 

2 i.e. The Netherlands. 



50 



account of this Coruelisz voyage, it does 

not appear of record in the Hague archives. 

Moreover, the notion 
Professor Jame- dmt the Dutch ha(] auv 

son's Opinion. . e ... . 

kind of establishments in 

the Essequibo at this time is, as Professor 
Jameson remarks, " plainly refuted by the 
narrative of A. Cabeliau." Professor Jam- 
eson adds : 

" Not only does it seem certain that if there had 
"been Dutch settlements in that river he [Cabelaiu] 
" would have known of and visited them, but he 
" distinctly declares, in his report to the States-Gen. 
" eral (De Jonge, Vol. 1, p. 160 ), that in his voyage 
" along this coast he and his companions had dis- 

covered, found, and visited more than twenty-four 
M rivers, many islands in the rivers, and other various 
" harbors, 'which have not been known or visited 

by our nation, and, what is more, have not been 
" described or discovered in any charts or cosmog- 
" raphies be'ore the time of our voyage' ('die nyet 
"by dese landen en zyn bekent nog beseylt geweest, 
" ja dat meer is, in geene quaerten oft cosmographen 
" voerdato onse voyage bescreven nock ontdekt zijn 
" geworden' . Moreover, the conscientious De Jonge 
" found no evidence in the Dutch archives of settle- 
u ment prior to the seventeenth century." 

Professor Burr, in his 
First Dutch Voy- report to the Washiog- 

age to Guayana. . r , • . i 

* ton Uom mission, speak- 

ing of this voyage (1597-8, reported by 
Cabelaiu in 1599), says: " there is every 
" reason to believe this actually the earliest 
" Dutch voyage to the Guayana coast." 
That it was believed so by the expedition 
itself is, as he points out, clear from the 
very terms of Cabelaiu's report. Further- 
more, from the official proceedings of No- 
vember 3, 1599, it is manifestly improba- 
ble that, under the policy of the States- 



Rep, and Docs. 
AVash'n Com., 
Vol. I., pp. 60-61. 



Dutch Arch., 
Wash'n Com.. 
Vol. II., p. IS 
Note. 



Rep. and Docs. 
Wash'n Com., 
II , p. 22. Note 
by Prof. Burr. 



57 



Dutch Arch., 
"Wash'n Com., II., 
pp. 23-24. 



Dutch Arch.. 
Wash'n Coin., 
II., pp. 25-20. 



Dutch Arch., 
Wash'n Comm., 
II., pp. 27-37. 



General, any earlier voyage to Guayana, 
made with their approval, escaped notice in 
the Records by reason of its possible secret 
destination. 

In November 1599, as appears from 
the official proceedings of the provincial 
estates of Zeeland, Adriaen ten Haef't, 
Burgomaster of Middelburg (who seems 
to have been in some way connected with 
the voyage of 1598), 1 petitioned for cer- 
tain privileges on the ground " that in the 
" preceding year 1598, at heavy cost " 
" to himself, he had "caused to be in- 
" vestigated on the continent of America 
" many different rivers and islands and . . 
" various coasts and lauds where one could 
" do notable damage to the King of Spain" 
etc. ; statements which clearly imply that 
the Spaniards then were, and that the 
Dutch then were not, established on the 
coast and rivers of Guayaua. 

It likewise appears from the official pro- 
ceedings of the States-General relative to 
certain exemptions from convoy fees — pro- 
visionally granted, in 1602, to Jehan van 
Peenen and Garrit Diriexz, and subse- 
quently awarded to them in 1604 — that 
the Dutch not only had no settlements in 
Guayana, but were prevented from sailing 
aud trading up the Orinoco river " by the 
u multitude of the Spaniards whom they 
" found there. " 

It is equally manifest from the Memorial 
of 1603, addressed to the States-General 
by William Usselinx (the originator of the 



1 Reported by Cabelaiu, vide supra. 



58 



first Dutch West India Company), that 
there were then no Dutch settlements any- 
where in Guayana; for the memorialist 
points out that, 

11 on the aforosaid coasts of America [i. e., the lb. p. 29. 
M Guayana and Brazilian coasts] no riches can be 
** drawn from the mines, and no profit earned from 
"the fertility of the soil, unless the land be first col' 
€t onized." 

And again, he urges 
" the convenience of that province's situation, if at lb. p. 32. 
"any future time you [the States-General] were to 
" resolve, in imitation of the Romans, to divert this 
u protracted war from the home country and transfer 
"it thither." 1 

It was however resolved, February 25> 
1603, that " as to the requested colouiza- 
" tion of Guiana " the States-General could lb. p. 36. 
not ''for the present take action in the 
matter." And so the project seems to have 
rested during the eighteen years prior to 
the formation of the first Dutch West Iu- 
dia Company in 1621. 

Meantime, during this interim, the Spau- «]Sfoticias Histori- 
iards certainly dominated the Northwest ales " &c -> P- 66i - 
Coast Region of Guayana, as appears from 
a relation by Fray Pedro Simon. For it 
was in 1619, or thereabouts, that Geronimo 
de Grados of the Spanish colonial service, 
went into " the Baruma and compelled the 
Arwaccas to obedience." Now it is well 
known that the Arwaccas inhabited the re- 
gion of the Pumaron, while the Caribs in- 
habited the region of the Barima; and 
Professor Burr shows conclusively, from 
the etymology of the word, that the "Ba- 



1 The armed conflict with Spain had now been going- on for 
a quarter of a century. 



59 



lb. Id. C. xxx. 



Dutch Arch., Docs. 
Wash'n Com., 
II., 37-38. 



'Rod way & W. 
Annals, I., p. 91. 



ruma" of Fray Pedro Simon is none other 
than the Pumaron of modern cartogra- 
phers. 1 The Geronimo expedition went all 
the way to the Essequibo, without once en- 
countering any Dutchmen, or even hearing 
of any. 

That, up to January 25, 1621, there 
were no Dutch settlements anywhere in 
Guayana, much less in what is now the 
disputed territories, is manifest from the 
memorial of that date addressed to the 
Prince of Orange by Cornells Janssen Vi- 
anen, wherein it is stated that, 

" our Netherlands have as yet attained little by 
"peaceful trade" in "the deverse products and 
"fruits found or raised on the mainland of [youth] 
"America"; and that " if an attempt were made 
" with superior force to gain the land there, and by 
" such cultivation introduce the products of Brazil 
" and the West Indies, the Spaniards would beyond 
" doubt seek forcibly to prevent this." 

Not only had the Dutch, up to this date 
(1621), made no attempt to establish settle- 
ments anywhere in Guayana, but they had 
no established trade there. Their vessels 
had visited some parts of the coast, and 
had occasionally traded in the mouths 
of some of the rivers ; but there is no 
evidence that they attempted anything 
more. Their trading vessels were mere 
ocean " tramps," with no regular itinerary, 
no established trading stations, certainly 
none in what is now the disputed terri- 
tories. 



1 See Rep. to Washington Commission, Docs. Vol. I., 
214, 258, Note. 



60 



The Dutch In the The Hague Records show Do £* m W * sb ' n r 9 
Essequibo. that November 26, 1 626, ° m *' '' P ' '* 
is the earliest mention of any Dutch estab- 
lishment on the Essequibo. It is certain 
there were no Dutch settlements there prior 
to the year 1624. As Professor Burr has Ib - Id ' L > PP- 166 ~ 7 
pointed out, all assertions that the Dutch 
were established there prior to the founda- 
tion of the first Dutch West India Com- 
pany in 1621, rest ultimately upon two 
documents alone, and the evidence derived 
from these is not only inferential but very 
conflicting. It is not only wholly unsup- 
ported by well authenticated contempora- 
neous documents, but is in direct and irre- 
concilable conflict with them. 

The longer of these two documents (and 
the one principally relied upon to support Ib Id 
the British contention) is the Memorial of 
August 23, 1751, submitted to the States- 
General by the Directors of the Zeeland 
Chamber in defense of their claim to the 
Essequibo Colony. The other is known as 
the "Sloane Manuscript" in the British 
Museum, first published in July, 1879, the 
authorship of which has been traced to 
Captain John Scott, the same who, as a 
fugitive from North America, led the ex- 
pedition of 1665-6 which raided the Dutch 
settlements in Guayana. 

With regard to the first named, its aim 
was thoroughly partizan and its conclusions 
obviously erroneous. The shadowy claim, 
first put forth in 1750, that the Essequibo 
Colony was in existence and in the hands 
of the Zeelanders " before, or at the time " 



61 



lb. Id. p. 166, Note. 



Dutch. Arch., 
Docs. Wash'n 
Com , II., p. 23. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., L, p. 167. 



Ib. Id. pp. 108- 



of the foundation of the Dutch West India 
Company in 1621, is cautiously reasserted. 
But the only document cited in support of 
this claim is an "account book " of 1627, 
which, Professor Burr says, proves noth- 
ing of the kind. 

In further support of their claim, the 
Memorialists cite the uncertain project of 
Adrien ten Heft, in 1599, and adroitly 
seek to bring into close connection with 
him a list of later Zeeland colonizers; very 
prudently omitting to state, however, that 
the earliest of the Zeeland colonizers did not 
begin operations till the year 1626. They 
likewise omit to mention that the very 
names which they seek to connect with 
ten Heit, were taken bodily from an old 
record book of the Company covering a 
period of forty- five years subsequent to the 
year 1626. 

Further on, the Memorialists admit that 
they do not know when or by whom the 
Essequibo Colony was founded, but think it 
"more than probable" that the Essequibo 
was first visited and colonized by Zeeland- 
ers, and that the founder was "a certain 
Joost van der Hooge, who thereafter was 
also the first director of the Zeeland Cham- 
ber." And, from this assumption of proba- 
bility, they infer that the Essequibo Colony 
must have been in existence "several years 
before the creation of the West Iudia Com- 
pany or if not before, then " at the 
time of the foundation of that Company." 
And then, as if painfully conscious of the 
inherent weakness of such a line of argu- 



62 



ment, the Memorialists point out that "not 
the slightest evidence can be produced" 
that the Essequibo Colony "was traded to 
by the Hollanders," or by " other inhabit- 
ants of the State" than Zeelanders " before 
or at the time" of the foundation of the 
Dutch West India Company in 1621 ! 

Upon such methods of ratiocination as 
this rests the British assumption that the 
Dutch were settled in the Essequibo earlier 
than 1624 ! Manifestly, so far from 
strengthening their claim, this very Memo- 
rial itself is, when read between the lines, ^ 
nothing more than an open confession that ^- Id - P« '°- 
there is absolutely no proof in support of 
such a pretension. 

With respect to the "Sloaue Manuscript" 
little needs to be said. "Its reception by Docs.Wash'n Com. 
historians," says Professor Burr, " has not L ' P- 175 - Note - 
been flattering, and the name of its author 
will hardly add greatly to its weight, for 
Scott's reputation for accuracy of statement 
is not unimpeached." His statement, for 
instance, as to the founding of the Essequibo lb. Id. I., p. 64. 
Colony in 1616, by " Captain Gromwegle," 
is without the slightest foundation; and his 
additional statement that this " Gromwe- 
gle" built a fort there during that year is 
confronted by the known fact, as shown in 
the Dutch archives, that there was no fort 
there at all as late as 1627. Moreover, 
the records of the Zeelaud admiralty, com- 
plete from 1613 to 1621, inclusive, con- 
tain no such name as "Gromwegle." 



(33 



Blue Book, p. 5. 

The Dutch West The British contention 
India Com- j g t ^ at t ^ e c h ar t er of the 
P an y- West India Company, "re- 

affirmed in 1637, gave the Orinoco as the 
limit of the Company's territorial jurisdic- 
tion." 

This statement is absolutely without 
foundation or justification. 

Docs. Wash'n Com., The first Dutch West India Company 
I., pp. 177-8. received its charter on the 3d of June, 
1621, but did not begin operations till 
some months later. The Zeeland share- 
holders did not meet to choose directors 

/6 Id till late in May, 1623. The Supreme 

Board of the Nineteen did not hold their 
first meeting till August 3, 1623 ; and the 
records of that meeting make no mention 
of Dutch settlements anywhere in Guayana. 

Dutch Arch., Docs. It was not till the 10th of September, 
pp. 38-39, I., p' 1624, that the Zeeland deputies were re- 
178 - quested to bring " instructions given to 

" ships bound for the Amazons" and "in- 
formation as to the condition of things in 
" that quarter." There is not a word 
about the Orinoco nor other place in 
the disputed territory. 

The charter of the Company was for 24 
years. At the expiration of that time, it 
was renewed for another 24 years. But 

lb. Id. I , p. 102. before the second 24 years had expired, 
the Company was already hopelessly bank- 
rupt. An entirely new Company was then 
organized which took over the assets of 
the old one, but no mention is made of the 
Orinoco as a limit of jurisdiction. 

The Company was a belligerent corpora- 
tion, formed at the close of the twelve 



64 



years' truce in the long war between Spain 
and her revolted Dutch provinces. Its 
charter did not even purport to be a grant 
of lands. It was in effect, what indeed it 
purported to be, a mere license to go out 
into the world and, within certain limits 
named, to capture, occupy, steal, or other 
wise appropriate any unsettled territory 
that might be available. Colonization was 
not, however, its primary object. Its pro- 
fessed object was " trade''; its real object 
was to annoy and plunder the Spanish- 
American settlements. The main expecta- 
tion of profit to the shareholders was from 
privateering — from plundering Spanish 
merchant ships — and it is of record that 
on one single occasion, in 1628, the booty 
thus obtained amounted in value to eighty 
fold more than all the " trade " during the 
whole period of the prior existence of the 
Company. 

Territorial The territorial limits of 

Limits of the the Company were specified 
Company. {q Article f ()f itg charter . 

All Hollanders outside the Company were 
prohibited from travel and trade " to the 
" coasts and lands of Africa, from the 
" Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good 
"Hope, or, furthermore, to the lands of 
" America, beginning from the south end of 
" Newfoundland through the straits of 
" Magellan, Le Maire, or other straits and 
" passages lying thereabout, to the straits 
"of An Jan" [i.e., to Bering Strait], 
" whether to the North Sea, or to the South 
"Sea, or to any of the islands on the one 
" side or on the other or lying between the 



Bancroft, Hist. U. 
S., II., p. 37. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., I., pp. 100-1 
Note. loc. cit. 



65 



Motley, Hist. 
United Nether- 
lands, IV., pp. 298- 
388. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com I., pp. 101-2, 



lb. Id. p. 102. 



lb. Id. 



" two ; or, moreover, to the Australian 
" and Southern lands, stretching and lying 
" between the meridians of the Cape of 
" Good Hope on the east, and on the west 
" end of New Guinea [in Africa], inclusive." 

There is not a word about either the 
Orinoco or the Essequibo. In general 
terms, the charter included the whole Amer- 
ican coast from Newfoundland around to 
Bering Strait. In the language of a 
sympathetic but impartial historian " it was 
an absurd attempt to blockade half the 
globe with a few galleots at a time when 
every harbor and position of advantage 
was commanded by the Spanish, French 
and English" ; when the whole of South 
America, from Gape Horn to the Isthmus 
was already held by the Spaniards and 
Portuguese ; and " when the Dutch were 
scarcely able to defend, inch by inch, the 
meagre little sand banks and marshes of 
the fatherland." 

Neither by the edict of June 9, 1621, 
nor by that of June 10, 1622, nor by that 
of November 26, 1622, were these limits 
modified or changed. On February 13, 
1623, the charter was slightly amplified; 
but without change of limits. Nor was 
there any change of limits either by the 
prohibition of May 24, 1624, or by the 
proclamation of October 13, 1629. In 1645 
the charter expired without change of 
limits. It was not renewed till March 20, 
1647, and then without change of limits. 

In 1671, when the charter again expired 
it was thrice renewed for eight months at 



66 



a time ; but each time without change of 

limits. And the final charter of 1674 

granted nothing to the new Company 

formed by it except " the places of Esse- 

quibo and Pumaron." There was nothing jh, id. p. 109. 

else on the American mainland to grant. 

The Orinoco does not figure therein even as 

a trade limit. 

After a most patient and thorough study 
of the legislation of the States-General, as 
shown by the Hague records, together with 
the archives of the Company and other 

contemporaneous documents, Professor Docs Wash'n 
r ' Com., I., p. 110. 

Burr arrives at the following general con- 
clusions, viz : 

1. " That neither in any charter of the Dutch 
" "West India Company, nor in any 'reaffirmation' 
" or extension of any charter, is there mention of the 
" Orinooo as a limit." 

2. " That in none of the published legislation on 
"behalf of that Company is the Orinoco made a 
" boundary of territorial right, possession, or juris- 
" diction." 

•A. " That its second and final charter of 1674 
" seems to exclude the Orinoco from the territorial 
"possessions of the Company." 

The charter granted a monopoly of trade 
over all the coast of America. All exist- 
ing Dutch establishments therein passed at 
once into the hands of the Company; and Ib M j p 177 
the original founders and proprietors would 
naturally have a claim against the Company 
for reimbursement. But the only such 
claim which finds mention in the official » 
records is the one made by the Zeelauders lb. Id. I., p. 48. 
for their " tobacco plantation on the Ama- Note - 
zon." Of other establishments on the 
South American coast nothing whatever 



67 



Docs. Wash'n 

Com., I., pp. 180, 

181-2. 
Ib. Id. p. 179, II., 

p. 42. 



Nieuwe Wereldt, 
1625 ed., pp. 474- 
480, 1630 ed.,pp. 
577-583. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. I., pp. 
184-186. Ib. Id. 
Vol. II., pp. 47- 
55, Note. 



Ib. Id. Vol. I., p. 
186. 



Ib. Id. Vol. II., pp. 
65-75. 



is heard, and the natural inference is there 
were none. 

Origin of the £s= 11 is a practical cer- 
sequiho Settle- tainty then that prior to 
ment - the year 1624, there were 

no Dutch establishments in the Essequibo, 
and it is equally certain that Jan van der 
Goes was at the head of the first Dutch oc- 
cupation of that river in 1625. The earliest 
mention, in the extant records, of any Dutch 
establishment there is November 26, 1626^ 
and this accords perfectly with DeLaet's ac- 
count. 

This "establishment" was a mere trading 
post of the Dutch West India Company, 
situated on a little island at the confluence 
of the Cuyuni and Mazaruni rivers, and 
therefore in the region of tide-water. It 
occupied the site of a former Spanish fort 
{El Burgo), the name of which the Dutch 
changed to Kyk-over-al. Up to 1627 it 
was still a mere trading station of the 
Company, kept up for traffic with the 
Indians, and had never paid expenses. 

In 1632, the Supreme Board of the 
Nineteen decided to abandon it; the dozen 
or so employees of the Company, with van 
der Goes at their head, having already 
returned home. But the Zeeland Chamber 
voted to keep it up a little longer. In 
1637, its projected abandonment was again 
discussed ; but about that time the Com- 
pany received a consignment from Esse- 
quibo of " two kegs of cane juice," and as 
this was the first intimation of agricultural 
products there, it probably saved it from final 
abandonment. It is not unlikely, however, 



68 



that an apprehended attack on the place 

by the Spaniards of the Orinoco had some- Ib - Id - n -> 72-76. 

thing to do with this second exodus, and 

that the proposed evacuation was deferred 

when these rumors proved ill-founded. 

Up to June 30, 1642, as shown by the ib. id. I., 190; II. 
Company's records of that time, the so- 100-102. 
called "Essequibo Colony " did not exceed 
thirty souls, and these were all unmarried 
men, employes and servants of the Com- 
pany, whose sole business was to collect 
dyes from the Indians. 

It remained about the same up to the 
treaty of peace in 1648, when it was a body T \gf Note 1 " P ' 
# of {i two or three dozen unmarried em- 
" ployes of the West India Company^ 
" housed in a fort at the confluence of the 
*' Cuyuni and Mazaruni with the Esse- 
" quibo, and engaged in traffic with the 
u Indians for dyes of the forest." There 
was no other Dutch establishment any- 
where on the Essequibo ; and as this one 
was merely a commercial or trading post of 
the West India Company, with no agricul- 
tural enterprises or interests, it can hardly 
be called a " colony." Up to 1648 there 
had been no further exports of samples 
u cane juice" or tobacco; and the first Id., pp. 192 93. 
sugar mill was not established till sixteen 
years later, in 1664. Nor was there, even 
up to 1664, any provision for the registry 
of lands. 

It is certain that prior to the year 1648, Docs. Wash'n Com., 
tw u • j /*u • H -> 127 "128, I. 

the Dutch occupied no portion or the rivers p> 214, loc. cit. 

Cuyuni and Mazaruni above the lower or 

first falls; and it is equally certain that 



69 



up to that date they had no trading "posts," 
settlements, or "establishments" of any 
kind anywhere on the coast west of the 
Essequibo delta. 

It appears then, from the foregoing sum- 
mary of well authenticated historical facts: 

1. That each of the three well defined 
Tracts, comprising the territories now in 
dispute, were first discovered, taken into 
possession, named, explored, and subse- 
quently first used and occupied, either as a 
whole or as parts in the name of the whole, 
by Spanish subjects, duly authorized thereto 
by the Spanish Government. 

2. That for fully a century and a quar- 
ter after this, the Kingdom of Spain suc- 
cessfully held these three Tracts of territory 
against all second comers, and persistently 
asserted and maintained their claim to do- 
minion and jurisdiction over each as a 
whole. 

3. That the first adverse holding by the 
Dutch, in what is now the disputed terri- 
tory, was by a belligerent corporation in 
time of active hostilities during the war 
between Spain and Holland ; and that their 
adverse holding did not commence prior to 
the year 1624. 

4. That this Dutch occupancy was lim- 
ited to a single place or establishment, of 
a purely commercial character, near the 
junction of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni with the 
Essequibo ; and that at the time of the 
Treaty of Mtinster, 1648, it had not ex- 
tended westward beyond the first falls in 
either the three rivers named, nor west- 



70 



ward on the coast beyond the Esseqnibo 
delta. 

Next in order, it remains to be shown 
first, what territorial rights, if any, within 
either the three Tracts named, were, by 
that Treaty, confirmed to Holland by Spain ; 
and, second, what was the extent and char- 
acter of any additional territorial rights, 
which the Dutch may have subsequently 
acquired, and held at the time of the ces- 
sion of 1814. 



71 



PART III. 

PERIOD FROM 1648 TO 1814. 



Rights acquired By the treaty of Miin- 
bythe Treaty ster, signed January 30, 
ofMiinster. 164gj the ]ong w& ; be _ 

tween Spain and her revolted Dutch Prov- 
inces was brought to a close. Spain form- 
ally recognized the independence of those 
Provinces (then styled the States-General), 
and confirmed them in the possession of 

"such lordships, cities, castles, fortresses, commerce 
Tr of Minister 

^ rt y ' "and countries in the East and West Indies, as also 

"in Brazil and on the coasts of Asia, Africa and 
" America, respectively," as they then held and pos- 
sessed. 



The cession comprehended also 

" the places which the Portuguese have taken from 
"the Lords, the States, since the year 1641; as also 
"the places which the said Lords, the States, shall 
" chance to conquer and possess after this, without 
"infraction of the present treaty." 

And the kindred clause in the next suc- 
ceeding Article of the Treaty prescribes 
that 

" among the places held by the said Lords, the 
lb. Art. VI. " States, shall be comprehended the places in Brazil 

" which the Portuguese took out of the hands of the 



72 



'' States, and have been in possession of ever since 

the year 1611 : as also the other places which they 

possess at present, so long as they shall continue in 
" the hands of the Portuguese, anything contained 
'• in the preceding Article notwithstanding." 

It seems almost incredible that any ques- 
tion should arise as to the obvious meaning 
of these clauses. None was ever raised 
between the parties themselves ; nor by 
others till after the lapse of nearly two and 
a half centuries. 

That these clauses confirmed the Dutch 
in all the possessions which they had ac- 
quired in Guayana up to the date of the 
Treaty, is, of course, beyond dispute. That 
they also contain a quitclaim by Spain in 
favor of the Dutch to such places in Brazil 
as were then held by the Portuguese, is 
equally obvious. But the contention, now 
made by Great Britain, that these clauses Blue Book 1, pp. 6-7- 
licensed the Dutch to make fresh conquests 
or acquisitions in territory claimed by 
Spain but occupied by aborigines, is cer- 
tainly novel, if not monstrous. Such a 
construction violates every known rule of 
legal interpretation, and involves the ab- 
surdity of a treaty of peace in open con- 
flict with its own declared purpose. A brief 
analysis of the clauses in question, taken in 
connection with the history of their nego- 
tiation, will make this manifest. 

The original official text of the Treaty is 
in the French and Dutch languages, the Coin., I., p. 74, 
two alternate versions being of equal au- Note, 
thority. The particular clause in question 
is in Article V., and is as follows: 



73 



* * compris aussi les * * of de plaetsen die 

lieux et places qu'iceux sy hier naemaels sonder 

Seigneurs Estats ci apres infractie van't jegen- 

sans infraction du pres- woordighTractaet sullen 

ent Traite viendront a komen te verkrjgen en 

conquerir et posseder * * te besitten 1 * * 

Here we have the French terms "lieux" 
and "places," and the Dutch word u plaet- 
sen," corresponding wholly to our cognate 
English word " places. " The French 
word " place " might in certain contexts 
mean a fortress [" place forte "~\; but, as 
Professor Burr has pointed out, its equiv- 
alent, "plaetsen," in the Dutch version, 
makes that quite impossible in the present 
case. Hence the correct English transla- 
tion is " places " alone, and not, as in the 
British Blue Book, " forts and places. " In 
either case, however, they clearly denote 
fixed localities — towns or settlements — 
and not stretches of country. And this, 

„ T , „- . as we shall see further on, is clearly the 
lb. Id. pp. ibetseq. _ ' J 

sense in which the words were employed 
in the negotiations leading to the Treaty. 

Again, the French words " conquerir et 
posseder" cannot be translated "acquire 
and possess." "Posseder" finds a true and 
adequate equivalent in the English word 
" possess " ; but the equivalent of "con- 
querir " is " conquer," not " acquire." 
And so, too, of the Dutch phrase " verk- 



1 The official text of the Treaty, from which these extracts 
are taken, was printed, by order of the States-General, at the 
Docs. Wash'n Hague in 1648. A copy is in the library of the State Depart- 

Com., I., p. 75, ment at Washington. Professor Burr, of the Washington 
^ote. Commission, says he has examined, in the Dutch archives 

" the sumptuous official original" of the Treaty, both in its 
French and in its Dutch text, and that he " can certify that 
the cardinal phrases " in question " stand in the manuscript 
precisely as in the printed editions." 



74 



rjgen en besitten" The English equiva- 
lent of the word " verkrjgen," as used two 
and a half centuries ago, is certainly not 
" acquire," but " conquer " j and, taken as 
a whole, the phrase clearly implies seizure 
from another State, not an occupation of 
lands held only by aborigines. 

Furthermore, the only " places " sug- rj 

. • Ib - Id - loc - cit - 

gested by the negotiations which led to this 

clause in the Treaty, are those to be won 
back from the Portuguese in Brazil. No 
other American possession is once men- 
tioned. It was on the Dutch hostility to 
the Portuguese, occasioned by the loss of 
Brazil, and on the well known wish of the 
Dutch to regain their holdings there, that 
Spain relied for bringing the Netherlands 
to favorable terms. The Dutch feared that, 
in case of emergency, the Portuguese might 
hand over these recently captured Brazilian 
places to France, or to some other ally, 
and it was of vital importance to the West 
India Company to regain possession of 
them, no matter who might hold them. Ib ' c £ v ' 78 ~ 90, 
On the other hand, Spain had little hope 
of ever being able to reclaim the allegiance 
of the Portuguese, and still less of being 
able to regain her ancient possessions in 
Brazil, then held by them. Hence her 
readiness to make, and the readiness of the 
Dutch to accept, a quitclaim to those pos- 
sessions in compensation for more imme- 
diate and tangible advantages. 

In short, a careful study of the his- 
tory of the negotiations, discloses that 
the clause in question came originally 



75 



from the West India Company ; that 
lb p 93 et seq was acce P te d by the Spanish envoys 

precisely as submitted, except their very 
significant substitution of the word u con- 
querir" for "acquerir " ; and that in the 
minds of its authors, the clause had refer- 
ence only to possessions of the Portuguese. 

And these conclusions are abundantly 
sustained by the subsequent history of the 
diplomatic relations between the two coun- 
Ib. pp. 94-96. tries ; for it therein nowhere appears that 

the clause in question was ever otherwise 
interpreted by either Spain or Holland. 
Thus, as appears from their diplomatic cor- 
respondence as late as 1786, both under- 
stood the Treaty as restricting Spain in her 
limits in the East Indies, to the places she 
then held ; and as likewise restricting the 
Dutch in their limits in the West Indies 
and on the American continent, to the places 
then held by them ; but' as giving the 
Dutch a free hand to conquer what they 
could from the Portuguese in Brazil. 

And how else can we account for certain 
statements in the Treaty of Aranjuez, of 
June 23, 1791? That was a treaty made 
by Spain and Holland for the mutual resti- 
tution of fugitives, and its principal clause 
specifies, in couples, the colonies of the one 
and the other between which the restitution 
should take place, namely, 

" between Puerto Rico and San Eustaquio, Coro 
" and Curacao, and all the Spanish establishments in 
"the Orinoco and Essequibo, Demarary, Berbice and 
"Surinam." 



Now it is manifest, even under the British 



construction of this clause 1 that it is tanta- 
mount to a positive affirmation that the 
Orinoco, from the coast upward, including 
of course its mouths and estuaries, was with- 
in the domain and jurisdiction of Spain. 
And as Spain had neither made nor received 
any concession of territorial rights in that 
quarter since 1648, the necessary implication 
is that it had never been other than a Span- 
ish possession. In other words, since by the 
Treaty of Miinster, the Dutch were limited 
in their territorial rights in Guayana to the 
" places " they then materially occupied ; 
and since the only place they then held on 
the Essequibo was the little settlement, or 
trading station, at Kyk-over-al ; since 
they then held nothing on the coast west 
of the Essequibo mouths ; and since the 
treaty of Miinster was still in force at the date 
of this compact, it is mauifest that the Esse- 

1 The official text of this clause of the Treaty is as follows: 
" Art. I. Se establece la restitution reciproca de las fugiti- 
" vos blancos 6 negros entre todas las posesiones espafioles 
" en America y las colonias holandes, partxularmente entre 
" aquellos en que las quejas de desercion han sido mas fre- 
" quentes, a saber, entre Puerto Rico y San Eustaquio, Coro 
"y Curacao, los establecimientos espafioles en el Orinoco y 
" Essequibo, Demerary, Berbice y Surinam." 
Its exact equivalent in English is as follows : 
" The reciprocal restitution of fugitives, white or black, is 
" [hereby] established between all the Spanish possessions 
" in America and the Dutch colonies, particularly between 
" those in which complaints of desertion have been most fre- 
" quent, to wit, between Puerto Rico and San Eustaquio, 
" Coro and Curacao, the Spanish establishments in the Orin- 
" oco [on the one hand] and [on the other] Essequibo and 
" Demerary, Berbice and Surinam" 

If read without the words in brackets, which are not in the 
Treaty, this might very naturally mean that the establish- 
ments on the Essequibo were Spanish. But as the British 
have insisted that it must De read as above indicated, let us 
so assume. Read in this sense, then, the'obvious meaning is 
that, as Puerto Rico is Spanish and San Eustaquio Dutch, as 
Coro is Spanish and Curacao Dutch, so are Spanish all the 
Orinoco establishments up to the Essequibo. 



77 



quibo line was still the recognized de jure 
boundary between the two countries, any 
aggressions or attempted occupation by 
the then defunct West India Company to 
the contrary notwithstanding. 1 

Occupation by If, however, we would 
lulsequent disregard the manifest im- 
to 1648. p 0r t of ArticlesV. and VI- 

of the Treaty of Miinster ; if we would dis- 
regard the patent fact that the Dutch did, 
by the terms of that Treaty, accept as a 
limit of their territorial rights in Guayana 
what they then materially occupied; if we 
would disregard all subsequent negotiations 
and treaties which, by fair construction, 
fixed the Essequibo line as the de jure 
boundary ; if we would admit the claim 
now put forth that the Dutch subsequently 
extended their material occupation beyond 
that line, and thus acquired title by pre- 
scription to additional territory, then we 
shall have to deal with the next question, 
namely : 

What boundary is established by such sub- 
sequent occupation by the Dutch or English ? 

For, of necessity, there is a boundary 
somewhere between the present claimants. 
Both cannot be sovereign over the same 
territory ; nor is there any region between 
them which a stranger may now occupy as 

1 This interpretation of Article I., in the extradition Treaty 
is natural and legitimate. But, under the most adverse con- 
struction, it is plainly a statement by the parties that the Esse- 
Docs. Wash'n quibo is, and that the Orinoco is not, Dutch ; and inasmuch as 

Com. IX., Brief it is a statement in a Treaty, this makes them so. Therefore, 
!• 21. as pointed out before the Washington Commission, it is 

legally impossible for either Holland or its successor, in the 
face of that Treaty, to claim that the controlling shoie of the 
main mouth of the Orinoco was then Dutch. 



78 



terra nullius. Both parties assume this 
position ; each claims to the whole of the 
disputed territory. The sole question 
then is, Which of the two owns the land, 
all of which belongs to one or the other, or 
to each in separate parts ? 

But if we are to search for a boun- 
dary which is not defined by deed or 
treaty or other express agreement, but 
which rests exclusively on rights growing 
out of the acts of the parties, we must first 
ascertain the nature and character of those 
acts, and then endeavor to draw therefrom 
the legal conclusions applicable to the case. 

First, then, as to the acts of the parties. 
And these should be considered in relation to 
the topography of the country; for, in search- 
ing for a boundary defined only by acts, the 
topography of the country becomes a matter 
of controlling importance; such, for instance, 
as well-defined water-partings of consider- 
able length; continuous mountain ranges Supra, Part I. 
more or less steep and difficult to over- 
pass ; comparative elevations of distinctly 
marked regions or tracts ; and natural bar- 
riers, such as are shown by history to have 
impeded or prevented settlement from a 
particular side. 

And if, in our investigation, it shall ap- 
pear that all the settlements of the one na- 
tion are on one side only of these natural 
barriers, and all the settlements of the 
other nation on the other side ; or that one 
of the nations excluded the other from its 
own side of the line ; or that one expelled 
the few subjects of the other who crossed it; 
or if one of the nations otherwise exercised, 



79 



Supra, Part I., pp 



habitually and continuously, unequivocal 
acts of sovereignty and dominion over the 
region from its own side of the natural de- 
marcation, then in either of the cases 
named, the rightful boundary between them 
becomes a question of easy solution. 

It has been pointed out already that the 
territories in dispute are all comprised 
within three well denned tracts, each com- 
plete in itself, and each plainly marked 
11 to 26. ir by natural monuments of rivers, moun- 
tains, and water-partings. We now pro- 
pose to show, from official documents,, 
and from standard histories, that while 
the Dutch may have extended their 
occupation into a part of one of these 
three tracts, they never gained a foothold 
in either of the other two : that whenever 
they attempted to cross over into either, 
they were expelled by the Spaniards, who 
habitually and continuously exercised 
unequivocal acts of dominion and sover- 
eignty in both. 

It will hardly be denied that for fully a 
whole decade after the date of the Treaty 

Docs Wash'n Com of Mtinster, "the westermost Dutch occu- 
Vol. 1., pp. 191, ? 

192, 193,* and pation'" in Guayana was fort Kyk-over-al, 
at the Cuyuni-Mazaruni junction, near the 
left bank of the Essequibo. And even that 
was not, in any legal sense, a " colony"' 
with outlying territory. It was merely 
" a body of two or three dozen unmarried 
jb.id. "employes of the West India Company,, 

"housed in a fort/' and "engaged in traffic 
"with the Indians for the dyes of the for- 
" est."' It had never been spoken of as a 
"colony,*" but always as " the establishment 



80 



in Essequibo." And this purely commer- 
cial character of the place is the more 
remarkable because the other Dutch estab- 
lishments east of the Essequibo, 1 whether 
those of the "patrons" or those planted 
directly by the Company, had all been of 
actual settlers. 

Up to the year 1657, there had been no 
change in this status. Annatto dye, col- 
lected and brought in by the forest Indians, 
was still " the only product of the Esse- 
quibo." In 1655, when the recovery 
of Brazil had become hopeless (and the 
West India Company practically bankrupt 
in consequence), the Zeeland Chamber pro- 
posed to throw open the " Wild Coast " to 
free colonization. But settlers were not 
invited there till 1656 ; and it was not 
till late in the year 1657 that the first 
" colonists " arrived " in the Essequibo." 
These consisted of but " twelve persons " 
in all, " some with and some without 
family, wife, children and slaves." 

Just where, " in the Essequibo," this 
little handful of colonists settled, the 
records do not say; but the almost neces- 
sary inference is that they all found homes 
near Fort Kyk-over-al, since there was no 
other settlement in that river till later on. 

Netscher, the Dutch historian, tells us 
(what indeed we now know from other 
sources) that " the Registers of the resolu- 
" tions of the Zeeland Chamber are found 
" in the Ryhs Archief, almost complete, 
"from 1626 to 1791, except from 1646 



lb. Id. pp. 192, 193. 



lb. Id. pp. 191-196. 
Yol. II., pp. 110- 

113 et sequens. 



Ib. Id. 



Netscher, Geschie- 
denis, C. III. 



1 There were none west of the Essequibo. 



81 



Pari. Papers, 
XXXIV, p. 226. 



Br. Blue Book 
fSupp.) 1896, pp. 
88-90-117. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
II., 309. 



"to 1657, which are lacking;" and he 
adds that all these have been " thoroughly 
searched" by the English Government 
"with reference to the boundary question." 
That Government have also, it is under- 
stood, a large collection of their own, 
which they took over with the Colony in 
1814; but which it seems contains nothing 
in support of their present claim. For we 
have Governor Light's official declaration, 
made in 1839, in response to a direct 
question, that " there are no documents in 
" the archives of the Colony respecting the 
« western or southern limits of British 
"Guiana. 1 We have likewise the Dutch 
Governor Gravesande's official statement, 
made ninety-two years before (1747-8) 
that he could find no papers in the archives 
of the Dutch West India Company to fix 
the boundary of the Essequibo Colony ; 
and that if the boundary had not been fixed 



1 Here is an exact copy of that part of Governor Light's 
official despatch referred to : 
No. 111.) —No. 4 — 

Extract of a DESPATCH from Governor Light to the 
Marquess of Normandy, dated Governor's Residence 
Demerara, 15 July, 1839. 
Mr. Schomburgk, employed by the Geographical Society 
to obtain information in the interior of British Guiana, and 
adjoining countries, who has lately arrived at Georgetown, 
having furnished me with the annexed memoir and map, 
I am enabled to reply to your Lordship's despatch, No. 11, 
dated 12 March, and to that of your Lordship's predecessor, 
No. 74, dated 1 December, 1838. I shall observe, there are no 
documents in the archives of the colony respecting the 
western or southern limits of British Guiana, the memoir of 
Mr. Schomburgk is therefore valuable; it confirms the 
opinions of the superintendent of Essequibo, as to the 
western limits, and points out what may be fit subjects for 
discussion with the different governments whose territories 
border on British Guiana. The Brazilian government is on 
the alert to extend the limits of the empire ; the Columbian 
government is desirous of ascertaining theirs. 



82 



by the Treaty of Miinster (in Articles V. 
aud VI.), he did not know where it was. 

These significant admissions coupled 
with what we now know of those records 
and of the documents reproduced in the 
Blue Books, raise a very pertinent legal 
presumption, and justify an important 
conclusion. If little or nothing relating 
to this period, or to the western boundary 
of the Essequibo settlement, has been re- 
produced in the Blue Books, it is fair to 
assume that it is because, and only because, 
nothing is found of record which can help 
the English case. " It is certainly a max- 
im," says Lord Mansfield, the greatest of 
English jurists, " that the evidence is to be 
" weighed according to the proofs which it 
" was in the power of one side to have 
" produced, and in the power of the other 
" to have contradicted/' And of the fail- 
ure of a party to call witnesses within his 
control, the Supreme Court of the United 
States have held that "it is to be presumed 
u they knew nothing which would tend to 
" substantiate its claim." 

Morever, we now know, from the Dutch 
Archives reproduced by the Washington 
Commission, not to mention the con- 
current testimony of all standard historians, 
that this " Essequibo Colony" was from the 
very beginning a weakly and moribund 
affair. It never attained success, and never 
had occasion to extend its area of occupation. 
Before it was a year old the Zeeland 
Chamber shrank from its management. 
Finally, in 1657, after much persuasion, 
the three Walcheren cities of Middelburg, 



Cowper, 65. 



144 U. S. Keps. 
154-165. 



Docs. Wash' n 
Com., Vol. II. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., I., pp. 194. 
195, loc. cit.; II. 
pp. 121-125, 126- 
178 et seq. 



83 



Flushing and Vere took it over and 

lb. Id- changed its name to " Nova Zeelandia ,; — 

Rodwav, Hist. „ . ... , 

Guayana. I., p. 3; an appellation which seems to have been 

188 n i86 *05 PP ' indiscriminately applied to all the Dutch 

settlements of that time. 

At no time did this Colony extend up 

either of the three rivers beyond the marine 

tides. Indeed, it never extended above fort 

Docs. Wash'n Kvk-over-al till the eighteenth century, 

Com., I., pp. 846- " & J * 

347-352-353. and then only up to the foot of the first or 

lower Cataracts in the Cuyuni. Mining 
in that river was attempted by the Dutch 
in 1741-3 ; but their farthest operations 
was less than "two days journey" in 
canoes from the Essequibo. These were 
soon abandoned, and were never resumed. 
Thrice for brief periods, during the eigh- 
teenth century, the Dutch attempted to 
establish outposts or trading stations in the 
Cuyuni basin ; but each of these was 
temporary, and had been shifted from place 
to place. By 1772, every one of them had 
disappeared. And five years latter, in 
1777, there was but one plantation any- 
where above Flag Island, in the Essequibo 
delta. There was not so much as a Dutch 
mining camp, trading post, or other tem- 
porary abode anywhere within the outer 
rim of the great Interior Basin of the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni, nor in the Northwest 
Coast Region west of the Moroco. 

Prior to 1658, there had been no effort 
Tl j j niA to extend the Colony westward on the 

lb. Id. p. 214. J 

Note. coast. In that year, the three "Walcheren 

cities, which had reluctantly undertaken 
the management of the Colony, appointed 
one Cornells Goliat to survey the coast 

6v 



lb. Id. p. 201. 



84 



region between the Essequibo and the lb. Id. p, 215. 

Pumaron. He made a chart according to 

which there was to be built, on the 

Pumaron near its mouth, a town which 

should be called " Nieuw Middelburg." 

Above this, on the river, was to be a 

fortress which should bear the name of 

"Nova Zeelandia." Below the proposed 

town, at the mouth of the river, it was 

proposed to build a fortified Look-out to 

be known as the " Huis der Hoogte" 

But this was nothing more than a 
scheme on paper. Neither the town nor 
fortress nor " Huis der Hoogte " ever lb. Id* 215. Note, 
approached completion. Indeed, it is 
extremely doubtful whether either were 
ever really commenced ; for the Colony 
itself lived less than half a dozen years. 
In the winter of 1665-6, Major John Scott, 
at the head of an English expedition, after 
destroying the little settlement of Kyk- 
over-al, swooped down on the Pumaron, lb. Id. 216. Notes, 
leaving the new settlement there in ruins. 
The destruction was thorough and com- 
plete. " The settlers were scattered to the 
forewinds," not one of them ever returned. 

" But though destroyed from the face 
" of the earth," says Professor Burr, "Nova Ib Id 217-218 
" Zeelandia" continued to live on paper. Note. 
" For, even before the Colony's ruin, the 
" chart of Goliat fell into the hands of his 
" enterprising townsman, Arend Rog- 
" geveen, the Middelburg geographer ; 
" and when, latter on, that map-maker 
e< brought out his fine Atlas of these coasts, 
" t Nieuw Middelburg with its fortress and 
" its ' Huis der Hoogte ' took a handsome 



85 



lb. Id. pp. 217-218. 
Note. 



Blue Book 1896, 
pp. 7-8. 



Hartsinck, I., pp. 
217-222. 

Rod way & W. An- 
nals of Guayana, 
II., pp. 5-6. 



" place on the map, which it did not lose 
" till almost our own day." 

Roggeveen's map was copied, as to these 
sites, by Hartsinck and others, who, in 
turn, had their copyists and imitators ; and 
so on, down to only a few years ago, when 
it was discovered that no such places as 
"Nieuw Middelburg," "Nova Zeelandia " 
and the "Huis der Hoogte," ever really ex- 
isted! Nevertheless, these "places" were 
persistently claimed by the West India 
Company. 

In 1669, the Company granted to the 
Count of Hanau a strip of land which the 
British Blue Book quotes as granting " from 
6( their territory in Guayana, situated be- 
" tween the river Orinoco and the river 
" Amazons." The claim is that " this grant 
u was made in the most open and public- 
" manner"; that it " was printed at Frank- 
" fort in the same year "; and that " it was 
" not protested against by Spain at any 
" time." The assumption is that Spain had 
knowledge of this grant and was silent 
about it ; and, from this assumption, we 
are asked to infer Spain's acquiescence in. 
the alleged claim by the West India Com- 
pany to all the territory between the Ama- 
zon and the Orinoco. 

In the first place, there was never any 
such grant as that described in the Blue 
Booh. What the Company did grant to 
the Count of Hanau was, 

" A piece of land situated on the Wild 
" Coast of America, between the River of 
" Oronoque and the River of the Amazons, 
" which His Excellency will be entitled to 



86 



" select, provided he keens within six Dutch D °cs. Wash'n 
. . Com., I., pp. 

" miles of the other colonies established or 115. 

" founded by the consent of the aforesaid 

" Chartered West India Company ; which 

u piece of land shall extend thirty Dutch 

" miles along the seaboard." 

This is something quite different ; nor 
did the grant assert, even by implication, 
an exclusive right to colonize that coast, 
and for obvious reasons. It is a familiar 
fact of history that during that period, and 
in fact, during the greater part of that cen- 
tury, such "paper grants" of lands by 
those having no title, was a common prac- 
tice, not only in Guayana, but throughout 
nearly the whole of both Americas. 

In the second place, this Hanau grant 
was, as Professor Burr characterizes it, a Docs. Wash'n 
mere "flash in the pan." It never amounted Com . I., p 
to anything. It was never even occupied 
by the grantee or his legal successors ; and 
it will hardly be contended that a grant 
which was never accepted, created title. 

Spaiu might therefore well be silent ; 
first because she knew that the West India 
Company owned no vacant land in Guayana ; 
and second, because there would be time 
enough to speak or act when the Count of 
Hanau should undertake to occupy under 
the grant, which he never did. 

Moreover, it can hardly have escaped 
notice that this assumption by the Blue 
Book is fatal to the English case; for if 
this Hanau grant could apply to the coast 
between the Essequibo and Orinoco, the 
necessary implication would be that the 
Dutch had no colony "established or 



87 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
(Dutch Archives) 
Vol. II., pp. 144, 
145. 



Ib. Id. 174, 181, 18 



Rodwav & Watt, 
Annals, II., 82. 

Rodwav Hist., etc., 
I., 46. 



De Jonge in Supp. 
Blue Book, p. 66. 



Rod way, I., 10. 



founded " which reached from the Esse- 
quibo to the Orinoco. 

In October, 1679, Abra- 
As to the ham Beekman, then Com- 
Pumaron. mandeur of Essequibo, sent 
a man to the Pumaron to 
barter with the Indians for annatto dye. 
The man was, however, soon recalled 
through fear of the Caribs, who inhabited 
the adjacent Barima region. Later on, the 
Commandeur suggested the building of a 
lodge somewhere on the Pumaron for the 
accommodation of "two or three men," 
whom it was proposed to send there to 
"dwell among the Indians," and thus oc- 
cupy the river for 'purposes of trade. There 
was no hint of any re-establishment of a 
Dutch settlement there. 

In 1686, Jacob de Jonge persuaded the 
West India Company to again open the 
Pumaron to free colonization. Settlement 
was actually begun; but early in 1689 the 
French, guided thither by the Caribs 
through the inland water passages from the 
Barima, fell upon the new settlement and 
utterly destroyed it. 1 

1 Rodway's account of this is as follows : 

" A French pirate who had established himself in the 
" Barima, g ided by some Indians, made a raid on the Pom- 
" eroon colony, and De Jonge, having no force to defend it, 
"was obliged to run away to Kyk-3ver-al, leaving the little 
" that remained in the stores to be plundered by the pirate." 

" It was finally resolved by the Council of Ten, on Nov. 15, 
" that the Pomeroon should be abandoned as far as the set- 
" tlement was concerned." 

* * * * " Essequibo and Pomeroon were virtuahy ruined 
" and almost deserted, the only remains of the two settle- 
" ments being the small garrison left by Commodore Cryns- 
" sen at Kyk-over-al. * * * The energy and perseverance 
" of the founders of the Pomeroon colony had been entirely 
" wasted, and now the few planters had abandoned the place 
" in despair, hoping for better luck in the more prosperous 
" settlement of Surinam." 



88 



No subsequent attempt was made to lb. Id., I., pp. 219 
colonize the place. But in September, 220,loc.cit. 
1691, a " postholder aud one assistant" 
had been sent there for purposes of trade 
with the Indians. Nine years later, in 
1700, the " postholder in Pumaron at the 
" Company's trade house " is mentioned in 
the correspondence as the " postholder in lb. Id. 221. Note. 
"Wacupo " creek, a small stream flowing 
into the Pumaron, near its mouth, from 
the west. 1 And in the muster-roll of 1707 
mention is made of " the Company's dye- 
house 2 in Pumaron and Wacupo." 

In December, 1726, this outpost, estab- 
lished for trade purposes, was removed to 
the right or east bank of the Moroco ; ib. Id. 122. 
thus leaving the Pumaron practically de- 
serted, even as a trading station. Thirty 
years later (1756) the Dutch Commandeur 
describes it as " a district bringing no 

u earthly profit to the Company." In 

•ill t» • Su PP- Blue Book 

1757 he described the Pumaron as " unin- (1896), p. 108. 

habited." In 1779, Inciarte, afterwards 

Governor of Spanish Guayana, made an Sp n.;"I 7 e , n ?oif m 

examination of the whole Northicest Coast 

Region and reported that there were u no 



Continuing his picture of the desolation of the Essequibo 
Colony of that period, Mr. Rodway says: 

" The settlement was nominally in possession of the States -p y „ 

" of Zealand, but as the mother country had plenty of work -K 001 ^}** V- 10- 
" at home, nothing could be done for such a paltry place as 
" Essequibo. The small garrison, however, stayed on, and 
" did the best they could in the absence of supplies, without 
" a proper head, half-starved, and probably suffering from 

" disease '' Kodway & W., II., 

From 1691 to 1698 the entire white population did not ex- pp. \2, 86, 88. 

ceed one hundred. In 1733 the population was less than one Rodwa r Hist tc 
hundred and fifty whites and some three hundred slaves. ^- 73 * S 6 C *' 

1 See Part I., p. 16 supra. P" 

2 i. c, warehouse in which dyes of the forest were collected 
from the Indians. 



89 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
I., 224, loc. cit. 



Blue Book, p. 153. 



Map No. 3, here- 
with. 



Blue Book, p. 156. 



Ib. Id. pp. 161, 165. 



Pari. Papers, 
XXXV., p. 278. 



sigus of any Dutch " between the Moroco 
and the Orinoco. 

In 1783, while the Essequibo colony 
was held by the French, grants of land in 
the Pumaron were made to certain French 
colonists; but these " paper grants " never 
amounted to anything. In March of the 
following year, the Colony was restored to 
the Dutch. 

In 1799, according to an official report 
of that date, attributed to the British Cap- 
tain Macrae, there were no " cultivated 
lands " on the seacoast from the western 
estuary of the Essequibo to the Spanish 
settlements in the Orinoco drainage basin. 
And Bouchenroeder's surveys, made in 
1798 and 1802, confirm this. His plat 
shows every plantation on the coast, and 
makes the Pumaron the extreme western 
limit of Dutch occupation. 

In 1804, according to an official despatch 
by the Colonial Government addressed to 
the Home Government, the most distant 
outpost westward on the coast was on the 
east bank of the Moroco, far beyond any 
actual settlement. 

In 1814, the Treaty of cession by Hol- 
land to England described the ceded 
territory as " the settlements of Demerara, 
" Essequibo, and Berbice" ; and the same 
description is repeated in the Additional 
Articles of that Treaty. 

In 1838, Governor Light, in an official 
despatch, dated September 1st, said: " The 
4< Pumaron River at the western extremity of 
" Essequibo 1 may be taken as a limit to 

1 i. e. of Essequibo Colony 



90 



" the country." 1 And Hadfield's map of 
the settled region, which the Governor 
enclosed (and was published by the Parlia- 
ment as part of his despatch), agrees with 
his statement just quoted. Three years 
later, according to Schomburgk ? s official 
report (August, 1841), there were not only 
then no English settlements above the 
first or lower Cuyuni rapids, but, in his 
opinion, it was hardly possible, owing to 
natural impediments, to establish any f rom 
the Essequibo side. 

In 1843, according to an English au- 
thority, even the Essequibo itself had no 
settlements above its estuaries. All the 
settlements were on the coast; " the banks 
"of the river" were "inhabited only by 
"a few scattered wood-cutters": while 
above the first or lower Cataracts (about 
48 miles from the coast), there were " no 
" inhabitants except the Indians." The 
same was true of both the Cuyuni and 
Mazaruni. "A short distance above their 
"junction, these rivers become impeded by 
" rapids, above which they are frequented 
" only by a few wandering Indians." 

Twenty-eight years later, in 1875, these 
conditions had not changed. For it w r as 
in that year that Mr. C. Barrington Brown, 
government geologist, describing his sur- 
vey, said : — 

" The civilized and cultivated portion of the 



1 The British Blue Book (1896) omits the "r" in 
"country"— a typographical error most likely. But this is 
unimportant. For by the ordinance of February 5, 1838, 
(which introduced the word county), it is declared that 
"county," "colony,"' "district," etc., all had the same 
meaning. 



Ib. Id. XXXIV.. p. 
319. Map No. 4, 
herewith . 



Blue Book, p. 227 



"Local Guide.'* 
(1843), p. II. 



Ib. Id. 



"Canoe and Camp/' 
p.l. 



"Local Guide," 
Demerara, p. 247 



91 



' colony lies only along a narrow strip of seacoast. 
" The portion between the rear of the sugar estates 
" and the confines of the colony is known as the 
"'Interior,' and, wkh the exception of a few set- 
" tlements on the banks of the Lower Berbice, 
" Demerara, and Essequibo rivers, it remains to-day 
" in the same state as in the time of Ealeigh." 

In 1892, in a paper read before the 
Royal Geographical Society, Mr. E. F. 
im Thurn, an official of British Guiana, 
said : — 

Proc. K. G. S., Oct., « The Dutch dammed back the sea along the south- 
^^668^ ^ ' " ern coas t s °f the colonies, and reclaiming for 

cultivation a narrow strip of alluvial soil, extend- 
" ing along the sea and river edge, but hardly any- 
" where more than three or four miles in width. But 

their work ended northward at the Pomeroon 
" River. The whole interior of the country, and even 
■'•the seacoast north of the Pomeroon — that is, the 

northwestern part of the colony, they left as nature 
il made it. Since the beginning of this century, when 
" the country passed from the hands of the Dutch to 
" those of the English, the latter have rather reduced 
" than extended the area of cultivation; and though 
" they have fairly mantained the quality, the land 
"beyond the narrow belt of cultivation has remained 
" as Nature made it and the Dutch left it." 

Towns and Up to the middle of the 

Villages. eighteenth century, there 
was not a Dutch town or village anywhere 
Docs. Wash n Com., in the Essequibo drainage basin. It was 
I " p * 202, not till 1782 that provision was made for 

the creation of a new capital on the Deme- 
rara. Till then, " the few settlers lived 
u scattered on their plantations " ; and the 
West India Company's agents and servants 
were all housed in the little fort at Kyk- 
over-al. 

In 1716, the Commandeur got permission 
Rodway, II., p. 8. to build a " new government house " on 
the mainland, opposite the river island on 



92 



which Fort Kyk-over-al was situated, at 
the point formed by the junction of the 
rivers Cuyuni and Mazaruni. It was 
called House Naby ("House Near-by"), 
and the little settlement which gathered 
about it was called Gartabo, from the name 
of the plantation which theu occupied the 
point. But after 1740, when the " govern- 
ment house " was removed to the new 
fort on Flag Island, near the coast Docs. Wasifn Com. 
in the Essequibo delta, Cartabo, like I., pp. 202, 203. 
Kyk-over-al, fell into ruins. In 1770, 
the former consisted of but " twelve or 
" fifteen houses." The planters had gradu- 
ally moved down to the more fertile lands Rod 

way, I., p. 66. 

on the seacoast and river estuaries, and Brown, ''Canoe 

' and Camp" (18 1 6) 

never afterwards was there any effort pp. 1,2/ 

made to establish settlements towards the 
interior. There had never been any plan- 
tations above the first Cataracts in either 
of the three rivers. 

In the course of time, Flag Island 
became known as "Fort Island," and Docs. Wash'n Com 
there grew up about this fort a little 1-jP. 203, loc. cit. 

1 • • n IV " AtlaS > Ma P 

cluster or buildings consisting of ware- No. 60. 
houses, public offices and quarters for the 
little garrison ; but aside from these, no 
town or village ever arose there. 

It thus appears that the territory actually 
occupied by the Dutch, whether in the 
vicinity of Kyk-over-al or on the coast, 
was confined to very narrow limits; and 
that up to less than fifty years ago, the 
English, their successors, never attempted 
to extend these limits, nor even to claim 
any territory beyond them. 



93 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
I., pp. 203, 204. 



Ib. Id. 



Ib. Id. 

Netscher, pp. 374- 
377. 



Dutch 
Trade 
1 Posts.' 



But the trade of the Dutch 
Colony, which was mainly 
with the forest Indians, often 
extended beyond those limits, and as this 
fact is now alleged in support of the English 
claim, it is necessary to enquire more 
particularly into the nature and character 
of that trade, and into the means employed 
for carrying it on. 

The products sought were such as could 
be furnished only by the wild Indians, 
and consisted of the dyes and oils and 
precious woods of the forest — such as 
annatto, letter-wood, carap-oil, balsam, 
&c. — all of which were gathered without 
cultivation. But the increasing demand 
for these made it necessary to seek them 
far afield ; and the means employed to 
that end were : — 

1. Agents or " outrunners " (ititloopers) , 
who scoured by canoe or on foot the 
adjacent districts, stirring up the Indians 
to bring in their wares and barter them at 
the fort, sometimes themselves carrying 
into the wilderness the trinkets for ex- 
change and bringing back the Indian 
produce. These outrunners seem to have 
been regular employes of the Company, 
and were generally half breed Indians or 
old negroes familiar with the Indian 
dialects. Latter on, their names appear on 
the muster-rolls of the Colony; but the 
districts or routes of their activity are 
never named. They were first in one 
region and then in another ; but " the 
" mention of their travels are so vague 



94 



"that it is impossible to infer their where- 
" abouts." 

2. In addition to these " outrunners," 
the Company came to have their " out- 
liers" (uitleggers), or, as they subsequently 
became known, " post-holders." The 
exact date of the origin of these trade 
" posts " is not known; but it was certainly 
not prior to the year 1671, when we first 
find mention of one as being in the river 
Berbice, nowhere near the territories now 
in dispute. " It can hardly be doubted," 
says Professor Burr, " from the tenor of 
" Commander Beekrnan's letter suggesting 
" such a post on the Pumaron in 1679, 
" that this was the beginning of a policy 
" new to Essequibo." In 1691, date of 
the first muster-roll in the Colonial 
archives, there were but two " posts," 
those of Pumaron and Demerara. By 
1700 that at Mahoicony (far to the east of 
the Essequibo) had been added. Besides 
these, but two others were ever attempted 
to be established; one in 1736, above the 
first or lower Cataracts in the Essequibo, 
and the others on the Cuyuni. 

These five were all. They were ephem- 
eral in character, and their locations were 
often changed. That at the mouth of the 
Pumaron was moved to the Wacupo creek, 
thence to the east bank of the Moroco, and 
thence back again to the seacoast. That 
on the Essequibo was moved farther up the 
river. While the three successive "posts" 
on the Cuyuni were at as many different 
points, and each of short duration. 

The functions of "the post-holder " were 



Dutch Arch. (Docs. 
Wash'n Com.)II., 
pp. 150, 161, 172, 
257. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., I., p. 205. 
Note. 



lb. Id. 

II., (Dutch Ar- 
chives) pp. 144- 
145, 192-199. 



Ib. Id. I., p. 206. 
loc. cit. 



r>. id. 



95 



ostensibly commercial. He was to collect 
from the Indians the native products of 
the forest, and transmit them, by means 
of Indian porters, to the Company's ware- 
houses on the coast. The " post-holder " 

„ r7 T and his one or two white assistants were 

lb. Id. I., pp. 207- 
208. II., p. 543. usually old soldiers, and sometimes, but not 

always, supplied with small arms. " The 
most important work of a post-holder/' 
wrote the Essequibo Director-General in 
1778, "lies in this, that through friendly 
" and companionable intercourse with the 
" Indians he seeks more and more to win 
"theni to us, that he further keeps a sleepless 
" eye on the doings of the neighboring 
"foreigners, both Christian and Indian, that 
"he watches for runaway slaves, and has 
" them caught and returned by the In- 
dians." 

But these, as we shall see presently, 
were not all, nor indeed the principal func- 
tions of the "post-holders." 

_ „ Of the first Cuyuni post — 

The First 

Cuyuni Post. tnat °^ 1703 — so little is 
known that some historians 
regard it as mythical. Before 1700 there 
is little mention in the Lutch records of 
anything beyond the actual coast settle- 
ments. But in a letter dated June 2, 1686, 
the Commandeur of Essequibo says : 

„ , " Immediately after closing this, came Daentje, 

fcupp. Blue Book, . / ._ f ' , J 1 

"the company's old negro, from the savannah of 

"the Pariakotte [Indians] above on the Cuyuni 

" River. He has been away for fully seven months, 

"and was detained quite three months by the dry- 

" ness of the river. 1 All that he has been able to ob- 



•From whichit seems the river was practically impassable, 
at certain seasons. 



96 



" tain is a little maraen oil and hammocks, because 
"the French are making expeditions through the 
" country up there in order to buy everything." 

In 1684-5, the French, who were then at 
war with Spain, and likewise hostile to the 
Dutch, had captured old Guayana Fort on 
the Orinoco. When the Spaniards drove 
them out they retreated to Barima, which, 
for the time being, became the haunt of 
French free-booters. From thence they 
proceeded through the inside water pas- 
sages to the new settlement on the Pumaron, 
which they finally destroyed in 1700. 1 

The first mention of the Cuyuni post 
of 1703 occurs in a letter written in June 
of that year by Commandeur Beekman, iu 
which he speaks of a recently established 
" post," six weeks' travel up the river, 
"near a savanna," where horses were often 
bought of merchants from Spanish Guayana; 
the necessary implication being that the 
Spaniards were long before established 
there as permanent settlers. This Dutch 
"post," therefore, established for "trade" 
purposes, was evidently within what was 
then recognized as Spanish territory. But 
from what is now known of the geography 
of the country, it w T ould have been impos- 
sible to bring horses from there overland 
to the Dutch settlements with commercial 
success ; for which reason Rodway indirect- 
ly discredits the whole story. Yet horses 

1 The sojourn of the French at Barima (after having 
been driven from Guayana Vieja by the Spaniards) was 
purely temporary. It was the custom of the sea rovers of the 
West Indies, from time to time, to spend the bad season in 
some anchorage where they could clean and repair their 
ships. Barima may have been used occasionally for that 
purpose: but certainly no claim of title to territorial sover- 
eignty was ever made in consequence of such acts. 



Ib. Id. p. 60. 



Netscher, pp. 91-92. 



See also Cabaliau's 
Kep., Docs. 
"Wash'n Com., 
I., pp. 13-19. 



Eodway & W. II.. 
p. 88. 



97 



Blue Book, p. 



could have been readily driven to a Spanish 
port on the Orinoco, where it appears from 
contemporaneous evidence the Dutch then 
went in schooners to trade with the Span- 
iards. Finally, after an existence of only 
lb. Id. p. 69. a few months (i( indeed it ever existed),. 

the "post," whatever and wherever it was, 
was abandoned ; for, in the language of the 
Dutch Commandeur, " the Spaniards no 
" longer permitted trafficking for horses on 
" their territory" 

It will hardly be claimed, therefore, that 
this "post," even if its existence could be 
clearly proven, was, in any legal sense, an 
occupation of the country in which it had 
been temporarily situated. 

In 1739, the energetic 
The Indian and aggressive Graves- 
Slave Trade. ande induced the West 
India Company to throw 
open the colony to all comers. Trade then 
became free, and sugar-planting a leading 
industry. As this increased, there was a 
corresponding increased demand for slaves, . 
which the Company was unable to supply. 
This led to those long series of habitual 
raids, by means of the Caribs, into what 
was deemed Spanish territory, for the cap- 
ture and enslavement of Indians : for the 
Timehri, X. (N.S.) ~ . , , , , , r ,. , 

Pt. I., 14, 15; Pt. Dutch were too prudent and politic to per- 

349 Vo1 ' 11 ' 848 ' m ^ su °k ra id s near their own settlements. 1 
As the demand for slaves increased, and 

r p. , . 1 The Council of Ten, at Amsterdam, enjoined upon the 

lmehn, A 14, 15; Colonial authorities to cultivate the friendship of adjaceitt 
~ ' tijt Indian tribes. In 1750, when the subject of kidnapping 

JJocs. YVash n and enslaving Indians was before the Court of Policy of 

Com., 11., ^43. Essequibo, that body forbade the enslavement of Indians re- 

siding in territory contiguous to the Colony. 



98 



the traffic in Poytos ("red slaves") became 
more general, Dutch traders would take 
up their temporary abode remote from the 
frontiers of the colony, and in territory 
that was understood to be Spanish, in order 
to direct and carry on this horrid traffic. 
The Caribs, whom the Spaniards had not 
wholly subdued (and who remained a fierce 
and uncivilized tribe as late as the begin- 
ning of the present century), became the 
allies and instruments of the Dutch in this 
business. They would kidnap the Indians 
of the more docile tribes found within or 
near the Spanish Mission Settlements, and 
carry their captives to the nearest Dutch 
"post" or slave station where they were 
paid for them. 

Such was the origin and 
The Second character f the second 
Cuyuni Post, 

that of 1758. Butch a P°st" (that of 

1757-8) in the Cuyuni 

valley. But as soon as the Prefect of the 

M issions heard of its existence, he informed Arcbiva? de las In- 

the Spanish Commander of Guayana, who c }l es ( s P an -- 

r i . Venez. Docs.) II., 

at once sent a force to break it up. Led by pp. 1-35 et seq. 

Captain Bonalde, under written instructions 

from the Spanish colonial authorities, this 

force, of less than a hundred men, swept 

the river from its sources downward, found 

the " post " near the head of the Tonoma 

Rapids, destroyed it, captured and carried 

away the " postholder " and his assistants 

as prisoners ; searched for others but found 

none ; returned (up stream twenty-two 

day's journey) to the place of their embar- 

cation, and thence overland (with their 



99 



Dutch prisoners) to San Thome, the colo- 
nial capital. 

In due course, the depositions of the offi- 
cers, several of the soldiers, and of both 
the Dutch prisoners, were carefully taken. 

They are all in the Seville archives, certi- 
Arch. de las Indies n , . c , , .,, , 

(Span -Venez. k e( * copies or which are herewith sub- 
Docs.) II., pp. mitted, together with English translations. 
10, 13, 15, 17, 27, rn ' . 6 6 
29, 33, 34. lranslations ot many or them are likewise 

Supp. Blue Book, printed in the supplemental edition of the 
British Blue Book, of 1896.— Thus both 
parties now appeal to these documents, 
from which the following facts appear: 

1. That the "post" was " only a short 

Arch de las Indies distance " from fort Kyk-over-al, although 
(Span. -Venez. 

Docs.) Vol. II., it took " three natural days to make 

pp. 25, 28, 30. « ^ ag tne r j ver i s navigable only by 

" keeping with the tides " ; 1 and even then, 
so difficult was the ascent, that it had to be 
made part of the way through side 
channels, " creeks and swamps." In other 
words, the " post " was so far down the 
river that the marine tidal navigation 
formed a considerable part of the journey. 
It could not therefore have been much 
farther inland than the head of the gorge 
lb Id p 189 near the Tonoma Rapids, or say barely with- 

in the outer eastern rim of the great Interior 
Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, and accord- 
ing to the testimony, fully " seventy 
leagues" from the mouth to the Yuruary. 

2. That the " post " had been but 
" recently established " ; possibly as early 
as the beginning of the year 1756, but 

1 The marine tides extend up to the foot of the first Cata- 
racts in the Cuyuni, a few miles above the junction 
7v 

LofC 



100 



certainly not prior to 1755; and that it 
consisted of only a rude shed or hut, lb. Id.ll et seq. 
" covered with palm leaves, and without 
"any walls" — an impoverished shelter 
resting upon upright poles or stakes, such 
as the forest Indians were in the habit of 
constructing. Its only inmates were two 
Dutchmen and their Indian women. Xo 
flag, flag-stalf, shield, coat of arms, or other 
emblem of national authority was any- 
where visible ; and a careful inventory 
disclosed the fact that there was no Dutch 
flag, or other ensigu of the West India 
Company, anywhere about the premises. 
It is quite impossible, therefore, to magnify 
this improvised slave-trader's hut — this 
mere shelter — into a " fort " or military 
center of a district, maintained as an act of 
sovereignty. 

3. That, according to their sworn testi- 
mony, the two Dutchmen had as yet 

"bought" no red slaves (poytos); but Ib Id pp 2 7 } 29, 

were making " collections w for their 33 > 

predecessors, as would be seen (they said) 

by the written " instructions " under which 

they were acting. Among their papers was 

found a list of " debts/' due from various 

Carib Indians ; the " debts " consisting of 

" 27 red slaves' 1 [poytos) and " 50 

hammocks." The trade-goods and trinkets, 

it seems, had been given to the Caribs, 

partly in advance, and the " postholder 99 

was to " collect " from them the red slaves 

and hammocks in return. 

4. That the " instructions " alluded to 

(and afterwards " found in a little box ") Ib - Id - n -> P- 32 - 
were carried to San Thome and delivered 



101 



to the Ensign of Infantry, Don Felix 
Ferreras, who had them translated into 
Spanish. They will be found in volume 
II., of the certified copies of the Saville 
archives, and provide that, 

''The Post will be bound to collect all debts due 
" to the previous old Post, and it will be likewise 
"paid at the rate of ten florins a head and a florin 
"for each hammock, and of everything purchased 
" notice will be given to the Governor." 

Obviously, this refers to the " collections" 
of slaves and hammocks above alluded to. 1 
Moreover, the u instructions," as a whole, 
were strangely incongruous with the char- 
acter of the " post " and its inmates ; a 
fact which, when taken in connection with 
the instant reference to them by the 
prisoners, and subsequently by Governor 
Gravesande himself (in his letter of Sep- 
Supp. Blue Book, tember 30, 1758, addressed to the Spanish 
pp. 112, 114. Commandant), raises a suspicion that they 

had been placed there for the purpose 
of giving false color in case the place 
should be surprised and captured by the 
Spaniards. 

5. That there was no Dutch habitation 
anywhere near this "post"; no site for 

1 The Blue Book mistranslates this so as to mean that 
ihe " postholder " was to collect what was due his predecessor 
for catching fugitive slaves, which is absurd. Of course the 
new "postholder" was not sent up the Cuyuni to collect 
Blue Book, p. 120. what was due to his predecessor from planters at the 
settlements on the Essequibo ! The interpolation of the 
word "fugitive" is wholly unauthorized, and completely 
changes the meaning. The original text in the Spanish 
archives (certified copies of which are herewith submitted) 
follows :— 

" La Posta estara. obligada & cobrar todas las deudas que se 
le quedaron deviendo £ la otra. Posta antecedente por que 
tambien se lepagaron los diez florines por cada cabeza y un 
florin por cada jamaca y asi todo lo que comprare lo debe 
manifestaral SefLor Gobernador." 



102 



" farming"; no sign of cultivation ; and no 

settlement nearer than Kyk-over-al. The 8p fi^ p^SL*" T> ° CS ' 

lauds about it were " swampy " aud untill- Supp. Blue Book, 

able. Further up the river were strips of 

"good laud"; but the prisoners testified 

that " the Governor " had forbade it to be 

tilled, aud would not permit Dutchmen to 

stay there. 

Such are the salient facts as disclosed by 
the sworn testimony of the eye-witnesses 
aud participants. Xow let us see how 
these facts were interpreted by the two 
Governments, and what was the result of 
that interpretation. 

The Dutch Governor 
Diplomatic addressed a blustering 
Action. . . . ° 

note to the bpanish Gov- 

ernor-General, demanding immediate re- Span.^ene^Docs 
lease of the two prisoners (the " post- Vol II., p. 137 
holder" aud his assistant); intimated 
reprisals in case his demands should uot be 
complied with ; and said he should lay the 
matter before the States-General. 

Iu reply to this the Spanish Governor- Blue Book) p m 
General said the location of the " post " Span.-Venez. 
was within "the domains" and jurisdiction 
of the Spanish Kiug, his master, aud that 

"this being so, and our action being a justifiable 
"one, I cannot consent to the restitution of the 
u prisioners whom you demand until I know the will 
"of my master to whom I have made report. In 
" the meantime." he adds, " I offer you my services 
" and pray to God preserve you many years, etc." 

Here was not even a symptom of 
apology, not so much as a customary 
diplomatic promise to look into the matter, 
or even to consider it at all. It was a des- 
patch of defiance, based on a distiuct 



Docs., II., p. 138. 



103 



annunciation of sovereign right. Thus 
the issue was squarely made. The Span- 
iards claimed and exercised dominion and 
jurisdiction over the very spot where the 
incident occurred, over the whole Cuyuni 
basin above the first falls in that river ; x 
and were prepared to enforce that claim. 

How was this issue met by the Dutch 
Government? Gravesande, by dint of per- 
sistence, induced the States-General to 
take up the matter; and in July, 1759, 
they addressed a mild remonstrance to 
the court of Spain, asking for redress. 
No attention whatever was paid to this. 

SP y n ol" V ir eZ No° C 6' Ten ? ears later > in 1769 > the y addressed 

(Docs. Wash'n another complaint to the Madrid Gov- 
Com.,Vol.VIII.) , . . . . T , - ,., 

; ernment respecting similar acts of the 

Spaniards in the Northwest Coast Region, 2 

and incidentally referred to the complaint 

of 1759. The Spanish Government sent 

to Guayana for a report, and for all the 

papers relating to both complaints. These, 

when received, were referred to the 

Ib - Id - Fiscal (the Attorney-General), who merely 

pigeon-holed them. Five years afterwards 

they were turned over to the Relator 

(Counsellor), who did not make his report 

till late in May, 1785, twenty- six years 

after the first, and sixteen after the 

second complaint had been made! 

The Attorney-General, noting all the 

facts, decided that "no further steps were 

1 That the captured "post'' of 1758 was just within the 
outer eastern rim of the great Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni there can be little doubt. (See separate brief on 
this subject. "Case of Venezuela," Part I.) 

2 Where some Dutch smugglers had been arrested and 
their boats and cargo confiscated. 



Ib. Id. No. 15. 



104 



necessary." Why ? Because, to quote his 

own words, " after the loug lapse of over 

" fifteen years, without any further mention 

" of the subject by the Minister of Holland," 

it was believed that, " having become 

" better informed, the Republic realizes Id - 

" the want of justice for the claim and had 

" already abandoned it." Whereupon the 

Cabinet Council voted that the papers in 

both cases " show the want of foundation 

"For the complaints of the vassals of Hol- 

"land." 

That was practically the end of it. The 

States- General quietly let the matter drop. 

In other words, they acquiesced. And by 

that acquiescence, acknowledged the sov- lb. Id. 

•* f Q . Vols. II. and III. 

ereignty ana jurisdiction ot fepain, not 

only in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Interior 
Basin ; but likewise in the whole Northwest 
Coast Region from the Orinoco to the Mo- 
roco. Surely, then, if ever diplomacy 
had emphasized an act of forcible and 
effective physical expulsion, by adding 
contemptuous treatment of the complaints 
of the expelled party, that had been done 
in this case. 

In view of these facts, so easy of verifi- 
cation, one is naturally at a loss to under- 
stand why the British Blue Booh should 
affect to consider the whole transaction, 
and the result of it, as a confession by 
Spain that the Dutch complaint and claim 
of title were unanswerable ! Speaking of 
the first remonstrance, it says : 

« This remonstrance was delivered at Madrid in B1 5 e o B 1 °°^ 8 JJ eneZ ^ 
*' August, 1759, with a demand for reparation; it p ' 



105 



''never received a formal answer, nor were the 
" Dutch claims ever repudiated." 

Never repudiated? Why, the Dutch had 
been expelled by force; they had demanded 
reparation on the ground of title ; and their 
demand was curtly refused on the ground 
that title was in the King of Spain, and 
that the Dutch had no case. Could lan- 
guage and acts be more explicit ? True, 
the Dutch complaint was treated with 
such contempt that it never had a "formal" 
diplomatic answer ; but it none the less 
had a real answer, supported by subse- 
quent acts — for Spain kept possession ever 
afterwards, and the Dutch acquiesced in 
the result. Moreover, the Order in Coun- 
^Docs^Vols. II. oil, which the Blue Book failed to publish, 

and ^03 PP ' * G ^ S US P rec ^ se ^ w ^ l V there was no 

"formal" answer, namely, because the 
Dutch claim of title was deemed " friv- 
olous," and Holland did not press it. 

On the 20th of 
The Spaniards hold T i -, n K n 

^ r* j. ,^ July j 1759, one year 
and Control the J ' ' J 

Cuyuni Basin. a ^ er the expulsion, 
the Dutch Governor 
Supp. Blue Book, (Gravesande) wrote that " the Spaniards 
p ' continue to stay" in the Cuyuni, and to 

"drive away all the Caraibians 1 living 
there." In October of the following year 
lb. Id. P , 115. (1760) he wrote: " The road to Cajoeny 

" [Cuyuni] was open to them [runaway 
" slaves], because since the raid upon the 
" Post there by the Spaniards the river has 
" not been occupied "; that is, not occupied 

1 Caribs, whom the Dutch employed in the red slave 
trade ; that is, an exercise of dominion by expelling Indian 
e mployees of the Dutch. 



106 



by the Dutch. August 28, 1761, three 
years after the expulsion, the Governor 
again writes : 

" Everything in the upper part of the river [Esse- 
" quibo] is in a state of upset, the people who live 
" there bringing their best goods down the stream. 
" This is because a party of Spaniards and Spanish 
" Indians in Cajoeny have been down to the lowest 
"fall where your Lordships' indigo plantation is sit- 
" uated, driving all the Indians thence, and even, 
" it is said, having killed several." 

Again, February, 1762: 

" They [the Spaniards] are not yet quiet, but send ^ ^ 
'detachments from time to time, which come down • . p. 
" as far as the lowest fall, close to the dwelling of your 
" Lordships' Creoles. * * * " 1 

And again, May 17, 1762: 
"From the reports received from the upper part 
of the river, I learn that the Spanish Indians of 
' the Missions continue to send out daily patrols as 
tf far as the great fall (just below which your Lord- 
" ships' Creoles live)." 

In August, of the same year, he writes 
that u the Spaniards up in Cajoeny are Ih - Id - P- 121 • 
" engaged in building boats " ; he fears 
" this may lead to the entire ruin of the 
Colony." He adds that the Caribs (em- 
ployes and allies of the Dutch) were then 
" all driven away from there " [the Cuy- 
uni] and have retired "right up into 
" Essequibo." 

In 1763, five years after the expulsion, Ib.ld.?. 123. 
he suggested that the Company " again take 
"possession" of the Cuyuni. 

In September of the same year he wrote 
of " the still abandoned post in Cajoeny." • -P- 

In October of the same year he wrote : j , 
" It is certain, your Lordships, that this is not the 



1 Not far above Kyk-over-al. See map No. 3 herewith; 
also Rodway, Hist. Guiana vol. I., p. 107. 



107 



lb. Id. 136. 



" time to think of the re-establishment of the Post 
" in Cajoeny. That matter will give us plenty of 
" work to do when, with the blessing of God, all is 
" at rest and in peace, because, the Spaniards having 
" driven all the Indians out of the river, it will be no 
" small matter to get all the necessary buildings in 
" readiness there.'' 

In 1764 he wrote that the Spaniards 
were gradually extending their Missions 
lb. Id. p. 130. down the Cuyuni ; that " small parties sent 

" out by them" were coming close to the 
place [at the lowest cataracts] where the 
Company's " indigo plantations " stood ; 
and that they were " certain to try to estab- 
" lish themselves [there] if they are not 
" stopped in time." 

Under date of August 13, 1765, he 
wrote : 

" This is certain, that so long as no satisfaction is 
" given by the Court of Spain concerning the occur- 
rence of the Post in Caioeny, the Spaniards will 
" gradually become more insolent, and will encroach 
'* upon our ground from year to year." 

To the foregoing missive, the Directors 
of the Company replied, September 19, 
1765 : 

" We are perfectly at one with your Honor that 
" the restoration of the Post in Cuyuni is of the 
" highest necessity, and accordingly it was most ac- 
ceptable to us to learn finally that Indians had 
"been found to offer a helping hand, provided an 
11 assurance of protection against the Spaniards was 
11 given them, which it was easy to promise." 

There is no very clear 

The Third indication where this pro- 
Cuyum 1 
"Post." posed new post was to be 

located ; but from the doc- 
uments herewith submitted it is manifest 
that it was to be near " provision grounds 
" cultivated by slaves"; that is, below the 



lb. Id. 137. 



108 



lb. Id, 134. 



old " post " and near the existing Dutch 
settlements, all of which were below the 
first Cataracts. That it was a new plan, 
and implied a new location farther down 
the river than first proposed by Governor 
Gravesande, is manifest from his letter of 
December 28, 1764, wherein, referring to 
the location he had proposed, he said that 
"with slaves it is not only too costly but 
"too dangerous." 

Under date of January 18, 1766, he in- 
formed the Company that he had engaged Ib - Id - 138-9. 
a postholder, but could not find as many 
as even six trustworthy soldiers to accom- 
pany him. 

In October of the same year he wrote 
that the " postholder " would go up the 
river directly in order to " build " the post. 
In December following, he announced that 
the postholder was at work ; that he would rb Id U1 154 
have two assistants; but added, "I dare 
" not trust any of the soldiers here to go 
" up there," as they were all Catholics and 
would " desert to the Spaniards." Conse- 
quently, the proposed garrison of an offi- 
cer and half a dozen soldiers vanished. 

Under date of March 20, 1767, the Di- 
rectors of the Company wrote complaining 
that " the erection of the post in Cuyuni 
" continues to be slow." 

Twice during the same year this new 
" post " seems to have been raided by the 
Spaniards, even before its completion. 

In April, 1768, the postholder had left. 
" I have no one there now but the two as- 
" sistants," wrote Gravesande. 

February 21, 1769, he wrote: 



Ib. Id. 144. 



Ib. Id. 148-9. 



lbrid. 152-3. 



109 



u It is finished now, my lords; neither Postholders 
lb. Id. p. 159. "nor Posts are of any use now. The slaves can 

"now proceed at their ease to the [Spanish] Mis- 
sions, without fear of being pursued, and we shall 
"in a short time have entirely lost possession of the 
" river Cajoeny." 

That is, of the lower river; the upper 
river had long been " lost." And the nat- 
ural result of this will be, he said, the 
gradual abandonment of " the river Esse- 
quibo " itself. 

He next points out the pitiable weakness 
Ih 'JH^ 156 ' of the new " post." He could trust there 

J 57, lbo, 166. r 

neither soldiers nor slaves ; the Caribs, 
cowed by the Spaniards, had fled to 
the upper Essequibo, and could not be in- 
duced to return; the Spaniards policed the 
Cuyuni from its sources down to the lower 
Cataracts; down to the Creole settlements; 
all was irretrievably lost. 

In other words, the Spaniards exercised 
political dominion and sovereign authority 
throughout whole Interior Basin of the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni ; threatened the very 
existence of the Kyk-over-al settlement; 
and the Dutch Governor confessed himself 
powerless to prevent it. 

Under date of March 3, 1769, he wrote : 

" Nor can we be warned in any way by Indians,. 
Ib. Id. p. 160. <c there being no more of these in that river. They 

" did begin to settle there again when the post was 
re-established, but the raid made by the Spaniard& 
" last year, when a large party of Indians were- 
" captured and taken away, has filled the rest with 
" terror, and they are gradually drawing off." 

Twelve days later he wrote that the 
lb. Id. 161. Spaniards were practically in a the mas- 

tery of the river," and had been since the 
" end of the past year." 



110 



Then, had this second Cuyuni " post " 
already disappeared? Or did it linger on 
a few weeks longer ? The records do not 
say. But they leave no room to doubt 
that the Spauiards were and had been 
for some time (practically for ten years 
in fact) in the effective possession of the 
whole Cuyuni basin. 

The last allusion to the new post in 
Cuyuni is in a letter dated June 1, 1770, 
written by the assistant postholder — the 
postholder having fled, and no successor 
having been appointed. The letter states 
that, 

" The greater part of the Caraibans have departed 
" from Cajoeny to Masseroeny to make dwelling 
4< places there, and some have gone to Upper 
"Siepanamen to live there." 

And the last time the name of this 
" assistant postholder 99 appears on the Ib Id 180 
muster roll of the Company is December, 
1771. Whether the Spaniards destroyed 
the post before or after its abandonment is 
not material. The Dutch never again at- 
tempted to occupy the river, or any part 
of the great Interior Basin ; while prior 
to that, all their attempts to occupy it (after 
their expulsion in 1758) resulted in com- 
plete failure. Not a vestige of Dutch 
occupation remained after the disappearance 
of the last Cuyuni post in 1771, or say 
more than a century and a quarter ago. 

Professor Burr, the historical expert of 
the Washington Commission, after a most 
impartial, patient, and critical examination 
of all the Dutch and Spanish archives Docs. Wash'n Com., 
bearing on this subject, concludes : 347.' ' PP 



Ill 



Supra, pp. 15, 16. 



Docs. "Wash'n Com., 
IV. Atlas No. 3, 
Br. Admiralty- 
Chart., No. 1801. 



1. That while the Dutch occupation of 
the mouth of the Cuyuni goes back to the 
earliest presence of the Dutch in the 
Essequibo, plantations never extended up 
that river until the eighteenth century, 
" and were never at any time carried above 
" the lowest falls." 

2. That while mining in the Cuyuni was 
attempted by the Dutch in the years 1741- 
1743, "the farthest operations" were only 
"about two days journey " from its mouth ; 
and these, we may remember, were aban- 
doned before the destruction of the first 
Cuyuni post, and never resumed. 

3. That " thrice, for brief periods," the 
Dutch had a "post" in the Cuyuni valley; 
fir.it "in 1703, from May to September, at 
" a point unknown, but in the savanna, 
" and most probably on the Curumo ; 
" second, in 1754-1758, at Cuiva (probably 
" Quive-Kuru), three days up the river " 
from its mouth; and third, in " 1766-1772, 
" first at the island of Toko-ro (1766- 
" 1769), then at that of Toenamoeto, in the 
" Tonoma Rapids (1769-1772)." 

As already pointed 
out, the Moroco 
river and the water- 
parting ridge ex- 
tending southward from the head-waters 
to the main affluent of that river to the 
Imataca range, constitute a natural di- 
visional line between the Northwest Coast 
Region, and the Essequibo Pumaron Region. 
All west of the Moroco is Orinoco delta ; 
all east of it is essentially Essequibo delta. 
The Moroco has but three affluents, 



The 

Pumaroti" Wacupo= 
Moroco Post, 



112 



namely, the creeks Moroco, Haimara, and 
Manawarima. The first Darned (whence is 
derived the name of the river) rises in the 
lowlands of the coast and flows south- 
easterly to the junction ; and is connected 
with the Barimani (an affluent of the 
Waini) by the Itabo caiio, and thence by 
the Itabo- Morebo channel with the river 
Barima — thus forming a continuous inland 
waterway to the eastern or main estuary 
of the Orinoco. The Haimara, a smaller 
stream, has its source farther southward 
and flows thence, in a general direction, 
northeastward to the junction. The 
Manawarima, the largest of the three, 
rises near the foothills of the Imatacas and 
runs northeastward to the junction, from 
whence the three flow in united stream 
known as the River Moroco in direct line 
northward to the ocean, where it disem- 
bogues some two and a half or three miles 
westward of the mouth of the Pumaron. 

The Wacupo creek, a small affluent of 
the Pumaron, rises eastward of the Mana- 
warima and runs some distance parallel 
with it ; but it is not in any way connected 
with it, except in time of protracted rains 
and floods, when an intervening swamp is 
sometimes partially or wholly submerged. 

Of the Pumaron-AYacupo-Moroco "post" 
(for it was, at different periods, known by 
each of these names) mention is made in the 
Dutch archives as early as 1679, when in 
October of that year Abraham Beekman, 
then Commaudeur of Essequibo, wrote to 
the West India Company that, 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 

Vol. IV. Atlas, 

Map No. 3. 
Br. Admiralty 

Chart, 1891, No. 

1801. 



Ib. Id. 



Ib. Id. 



Ib. Id. 



113 



l< The River Pomeroon also promises some profit. 
Dutch Archives. T -, , . . , c .. T . ^-.v 

(Docs Wash'n order to make a trial 01 it, 1 sent thither in 

Com.), Vol. II., " August last one of my soldiers to barter forannatto 
pp. 144. 145. " 'dye/' 

The soldier was however soon with- 
drawn, owing to the fear of the Barima 
Indians. But late in October of the 
lb. Id. 144. same year, u the scare being over," the 

Commandeur wrote : 

" I shall send him back there within four or five 
4 4 weeks (the dye sea3on not fairly beginning there 
''before that date), and if the trade prospers it would 
<l not be a bad idea to build there a little hut for two 
" or three men, so that they may dwell permanently 
"among the Indians and occupy that river. Thus 
lb- Id. " these [Indians] would be stimulated to furnish a 

deal of annatto, for the place is too far off for them 
" to bring it here to the fort. In that event, you 
"ought to send me more men from the fatherland." 

The post was established, and (as would 
seem) maintained even after the destruction 

Docs. Wash'n Com of tbe iH_f a ted Pumaron Colony, in 1689 : 

I. , pp. 219, 22C. . . 

II. , pp. 192, 193. but with but two men instead of three, 

for, according to the muster-roll of Sep- 
tember 6, 1691, there was only a post- 
holder and one assistant. 

In 1700, it was on the same footing ; 
but its site seems to have been changed to 

Wacupo creek. There is, however, some 
lb. Id. II., p. 199. . \ . ' . , ' ■ 

I., p. 220, confusion as to the name ; since, while the 

pay-roll for that year mentions the " post- 
holder in Pumaron," the muster-roll makes 
the same soldier " postholder in Wacupo." 
But by 1704, pay-roll and muster-roll were 
in accord, and both speak of the same 
soldier (Jan Debbaut) as " postholder in 
Wacupo. " 

Bi B k In the journal of the Commandeur for 

p. 64. ' " ' 1686, we read of a " postholder in Courey." 

But Courey (or Korey as it was sometimes 



114 



written) was the name of the swampy flat 
between the Wacupo and the Manawarima ; 
and, as in time of overflow, this flat 
probably afforded a canoe passage between 
the two creeks, no point on the Wacupo 
could be a more natural site for this out- 
post than the junction with the passage 
through these wet meadows. And this is 
precisely where the maps of the time show 
it to have been. 

In 1707, Commandeur Beekman sug- 
gested the laying of a toll on traders from 
other colonies, who should pass through 
this frontier gateway (and thence through 
the inland waters) for traffic with the 
Spaniards of the Orinoco. But his suc- 
cessor opposed this ; the Company ques- 
tioned the legality of such a measure; and 
both objected to the expense it would 
probably involve. It would have been 
necessary to establish a new post on the 
Pumaron side of the Moroco River at its 
mouth ; or else to remove the Wacupo 
post to some point that would command 
both entrances to the Orinoco delta waters, 
which was of course impossible. 

The post was 
finally moved, how- 
ever, to the right 
or east bank of the Moroco, some distance 
up from its mouth; the " Couray " or 
Wacupo route to the Orinoco delta waters 
being little frequented. The used, and 
in fact the only available gateway was from 
the Moroco through the Itabo cano. So in 
October, 1726, the Dutch Commandeur 
(Gelskerke) informed the Essequibo Court 



The Post Removed 
to the Moroco. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
II., p. 237. 



Ib. Id., Vol. IV., At- 
las, Map 68. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
II., pp. 229, 230. 

Blue Book No. 3, 
pp. 72, 73. 



Docs. Wash'n Com. 
I., pp. 222, 230, 
231. II., pp. 233, 
237. 



115 



of Policy of his purpose to remove the* 
post to the Moroco. "That," he said,, 
"was the fittest place for the post" because 
it was 

"at the landing where those fetching horses,. 
'• coming from the Orinoco into the river Moroco, 
" usually stop (a place called in the Indian language 
" Acoujere), x it being possible to build a lodge 
" (house) there so close to the river side' 2 that a. 
"hand-grenade can be thrown into boats, the river 
"being at its narrowest there." 

The transfer thus foreshadowed seems to 
Docs. Wash'n Com. have been made sometime between 1726 

I., p. 230, loc. cit. 1729 . 1731 d(> we fiud 

the name of " Wacupo " coupled with that 
of "Moroco " in connection with this post- 
Thenceforth for some time both names 
lb Id II pp 278, were used indifferently or sometimes both 
305, 307,809,332. together. From about 1747 the name 
" Wacupo " was dropped, and the 
"Moroco" alone was used. In 1757, the 
Spaniards of the Orinoco, hearing that the 
Dutch were building a " new post" on the 
Moroco, sent a force to reconnoiter ; but 
they found only the old post, some 15 or 
16 miles up the river from its mouth, that 
is to say, on the site of 1826-9. 

Where, then, was the site ? That it was 
on the right or east bank of the Moroco,. 

~ w , . n well up trom its mouth, is shown by Gov- 
Docs. Wash n Com. * > J 

Vol. IV., Atlas, ernor Gravesande's sketch map, transmitted 
to the Company in 1749. The Spanish 
lb. Id. map 61. Jesuit sketch map, which he obtained and 

transmitted in 1750 shows the same site;, 
and this agrees with the description given 

1 " Acoujere," however, happens to be a word in the 
Spanish language. 

2 i. e. its east bank. (See Infra.) 

8v 



116 



of it by the Spanish Governor-General in 
1747, who, speaking of the inland (Itabo) 
• water passage, says : 

" The stronghold called the post, which the Dutch Arch de las Indies 

-"of Essequibo maintain with three men and two (Span.-Venez. 

<l small cannons, sixteen leagues from the Colony 1 Docs.,j ~\ ol. III., 

-" towards 2 the ship channel of the Orinoco," 3 etc. P" 

And the Capuchin missionaries who 
visited this "Moroco post" in 1769, de- 
scribed it as — 

14 A thatch-covered house on the east bank of the Blue Book, No. 1 
■" Moruca, tolerated there (by the Spaniards) for p. 114. 
4i about forty years." 

" Forty years" takes us back to 1729, 
when the Wacupo post had been but 
recently moved to this site on the Moroco, 
wmere the Capuchins saw it in 1 769. 

It is well known that the ocean current 
which steadily sweeps down the coast west- 
ward to the main mouth of the Orinoco, 
renders approach thence to the Pumaron 
Essequibo Region very difficult, if not 
impossible, especially in canoes and small 
sailing crafts such as were in common use 
there up to less than a century ago. 
Hence this inland water-route between the 
delta region of the Orinoco and that of 
the Essequibo, became the avenue of 
trade 4 between the Spanish and Dutch 
settlements. 



1 That is 16 leagues (about 48 miles) from the settled 
limits of the Dutch Colony, 

2 Literally "in front of (d /rente) the ship channel. 

3 The Moroco River, the Ttabo cafio, the Itabo Morebo 
carlo, and the Barima River, constitute this inland ship 
channel. It led into Braza (or Cano) Barima, which was 
then, as now the eastern estuary of the Orinoco. 

4 And more frequently than otherwise of illicit trade ; 
for both nations periodically complained that smugglers 
infested the coast region between the two settlements. 



117 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. I., 
pp. 231, 232. 
Vol. II. ( Dutch 
Archives), p. 256. 

Blue Book, "No. 3, 
p. 81. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com. (Dutch 
Archives) II., p. 
278. 



It had not only become the avenue of 
trade, but was sometimes used for hostile 
purposes ; and as a precautionary measure 
to prevent surprises by possible enemies, 
this " Wacupo-Moroco " post was some- 
times put to important use. Thus as early 
as May, 1628, the Court of Policy, having 
learned from the postholder of the seizure 
by the Orinoco Spaniards of a Surinam 
vessel, and being apprehensive of further 
demonstrations of a hostile character from 
that quarter, 

"Kesolved to reinforce the aforesaid post of Wacupo 
with two soldiers, and to direct Jan Batiste (the 
'•'postholder) to keep the necessary beacons in order, 
" so that" they might " receive the earliest informa- 
" tion in case the Spaniards should send any armed 
" vessel to this colony." 

It had been thought at one time that 
the removal of the post from Wacupo to 
Moroco would lead to increased trade with 
the Indians. But this hope, it seems, was 
disappointed; for in 1737, the Governor 
reported to the West India Company, that 
" the post Wacupo and Moroco, formerly 
" the most important trading-place for the 
" Company's annatto trade, has these last 
" years fallen off in this business " ; the 
cause being, as he goes on to explain, the 
activity of the Surinam slave-traders, 1 
who had demoralized the Indians. "While 
" I see no way of changing this," he adds, 
" we must nevertheless keep up this post, 
" because it was established for the main- 



1 Red slaves or fioytos were systematically kidnapped from 
near Spanish mission settlements, or unoccupied territory 
deemed Spanish. (See supra, pp. 97-8) 



118 



" tenance 1 of your frontiers 2 stretching 
" toward 2, the Orinoco." 

By the middle of the eighteenth century, 
the escape of the slaves to the Orinoco 
had become a growing evil. The ocean 
current sweeping westward along the coast 
made it easy for these fugitives to escape 
by the outside sea route, and thus avoid 
the inland exit which was guarded by the 
post. So in January, 1754, it was resolved 
by the Court of Policy, " to place a post B]ue Book No _ K 
" on the side 4 of the Moroco 99 at its mouth, PP- 97-98. 
" to prevent the desertion of slaves." 

This project was soon abandoned, at least 
for the time being ; for the panic caused by 
a rumor that the Spaniards of the Orinoco 
were preparing to attack the Dutch set- 
tlements, gave the authorities other things 
to think about. In September, 1755, the 76.. Id, p. 99.. 
Director-General, alarmed by these rumors, 
informed the Company that he had de- 
tached " eight or ten men to garrison and 
" defend as far as possible the post of 
" Moroco," which he feared would "bear 
"the brunt." On the 12th of October, 
following, he reported that "two small Id* pp. 99-101.. 
"vessels" had been made "(whereof one 
" is ready, and the other almost so) to keep 
" guard 5 between Monica and Pomeroon," 
and another (a private barque) had been 



1 i. c. protection. 

2 Some 48 miles to ihe eastward of this outpost. 

3 " Toward," not at. Any distance, however short, north- 
westward from the Esscquibo-Pzonaron Region would be 
of course " toward the Orinoco." 

4 That is to say the same "side" on which the old post 

was situated, but lower down at the rivers mouth. Docs. Wash'n 

5 Literally to " keep watch " (De zuae/it), not to " keep the Com., I., p. 233.. 
-way " as the Blue Book has it. Note. 



119 



" equipped to go and lie by the angle of 
"the Pumaron." In the same letter he 
reported that he had "seat order to 
" Moroco 1 to "cause all inland waters 
Jb - J,t - " and passages to be blocked " (by felling 

timber) so that the foe " may not be able 
" to pass with small vessels." 

In January, 1756, the panic having 
Blue Book, No. 3, subsided, the Court of Policy again consid- 
p ' 106, ered the proposition to move the post 

down to the mouth of the Moroco. 
Whether the order was accordingly given 2 
is not clear, nor is that material ; we 
know from Spanish sources that if given, 
it was not carried out. In 1757, Iturriaga, 
the Spanish Commander in the Orinoco, 
heard through some Capuchin mission- 
aries, that the Dutch were building a new 
fort on the Moroco. He at once sent a 
Arch, de las Indies, subordinate to visit the place and report 
DocsT Voi e iil , the reSLllt of bis investigations. On the 2d 
pp. 161-169. of December of the same year, this subor- 

dinate reported that the only basis of the 
rumor was the reputed " intention " of the 
Dutch, not to build a new fort, but to 
remove to the mouth of the Moroco " the 
" guard which, under the name of 'post' 
" they maintain on the Moroco channel. ,n 
So the post was still at the old site. 

On the 30th March, 1758, the Spanish 
subordinate officer who had been sent 
to again reconnoiter, reported that the 
contemplated change of the post on the 

1 i. e. to the Moroco postholder. 

2 See Blue Book (No. 3, p. io5); also Prof. Burr's Report 
(Doc. Wash. Com., Vol. I., p. 234 and Note). 

3 i. e. at the bend near the junction. 



120 



Moroco had not yet taken place. The 
Dutch, he said, had built at the mouth of 
the river only a lodge " for the use of those 
u engaged in the trade of the Colony and 
" to serve as a rest house while the 
" river is in flood. " The "post" was still 
at its old site, up the river on its right or 
east bank near the junction. 

It was still there in 1779, as appears 
from Inciarte's official Report of that year, 
made after he had carefully reconnoitered 
the entire region from the Orinoco to the 
Pumaron ; and his lucid Report makes it 
clear that the post was on the right or east 1 
side of the Moroco, near the Manawarima 
junction, where the river turns at right 
angles and flows thence in straight line to 
the ocean. 

It seems to have been kept up there till 
1781-1784, when the English and French 
took military possession of the Essequibo 
Colony ; although, before this, complaints 
had been frequent* by the Director-General 
that it was practically "useless." 

In 1784, when the 
Dutch resumed posses- 
sion, steps were taken 
to move the post down 
to the mouth of the 
river ; and the precise location of the new 
site we know with exactness from the map 
made by the Colonial surveyors in 1794. 
It was on the east bank of the Moroco, at its 
very mouth, where it thenceforth remained; 
the old site above, on the same side of the 

1 Strictly southeast by the compass ; but generally spoken 
of as "east." The post was on the side next to the Pumaron. 



The Moroco 
Post moved 
down to the 
Coast. 



Arch, de las Indies, 
(Span.-Venez. 
Docs.), II., pp. 
102-103. Docs. 
Wash'n Com., 
II., pp. 374-375, 
IV., Atlas, Maps 
64, 66, 68. 

Limites &c. de 
Guayana (Seijas) r 
87-96 ; in Eng. 
Trans., pp. 84-89. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., II., pp. 
539, 542, 543, 579, 
586. 



Ib. Id. Vol. IV., 
Atlas. Map 69y 
Vol. II., pp. 
612-632. 



121 



Ib. Id. Vol. I., p. 
242. .Note. 

Ib. Id. Vol. II., pp. 
611, 616, 618, 632, 
634. 

Ib. Id. Vol. I., p. 
242, loc. cit. 



Ib. Id. Vol. II., 
p. 657. 



Ib. Id. p. 656. 



Docs. Wash'n 
Com., Vol. II., 
pp. 655, 656, 657. 



ieijas' Limites Bri- 
tatiicos de Quay- 
ana (Paris Edi- 
tion, 1888), pp. 
84-89. 



river having been abandoned. In 1792 r 
after the final extinction of the West 
India Company, and the Colony had been 
taken in charge by the Dutch Government,, 
this was the only "post" which continued to 
appear on the pay and muster rolls ; and it 
seems to have been maintained at the same 
site until the second military occupation by 
the British in 1796, when it was likewise 
abandoned. 

In 1802, when the Dutch again resumed 
possession, they found this Moroco post in 
"ruins" ; but they took steps to re-establish 
it. In the journal of the Dutch Governor- 
General, wherein he is speaking of the 
detachment to be sent there, it is inadver- 
tently called "the post Orinoco" ; but, as 
Prof. Burr has pointed out (in a foot-note, 
page 656, Vol. II., Docs. Wash. Com.), 
this is manifestly a mere lapsus pennce. 1 
That it was the same old Moroco post 
(or " guard under name of 'post' "), 
which had been moved down to the 
coast at the very mouth of the Moroco 
on its east or Pumaron side, and no other, 
is manifest not only from the context in 
Governor Meerten's journal, but from his 
subsequent official despatch to the Home 
Government (dated December 17, 1802), 
wherein he speaks of the same post as "the 
post Moroco." 

It is noticeable that the minute and 
elaborate reconnoissance of the Moroco 
and Pumaron, made in ] 779 by the Spanish 
officer, Inciarte, although open and above 

1 See also foot-note, p. 239, Vol. L, Docs. Wash. Com. 



122 



l>oard, was attended by do breach of the 
peace. Xt that time the Dutch still 
maintained their outpost on the right bank 
of the Moroco. Inciarte and his party were 
there ; they surveyed the ground all around 
this "post"; fixed on a site for a Spanish 
town aud a fort within a pistol shot of it ; 
passed on to the Pumaron river, which 
they examined miuutely; and then returned 
to the Orinoco as they had come, by way of 
the upper Moroco and the Itabo canos. 
The Dutch must have been cognizant of 
his presence and movements, and pre- 
sumably acquainted with the nature and 
object of his work ; yet they raised not 
a word of complaint or remonstrance 
either then or thereafter. The almost nec- 
essary inference is that they regarded his 
presence and his surveys as the acts of a 
lawfully commissioned agent of a Govern- 
ment exercising sovereignty and dominion, 
not only over the whole region west of 
the Moroco, but likewise over the terri- 
tory between that river and the Puma- 
ron, including the very spot whereon the 
*'post" was situated, and where it had been 
merely "tolerated" 1 by the Spanish author- 
ities for above " forty years." 

Moreover, the Royal Order of Oc- 
tober 1, 1780, issued in accordance with 
Inciarte ? s recommendations 2 was not hidden lb. Id. pp. 89, 90. 
under a bushel. There was nothing secret 

1 For the purposes of trade, and for intercepting runaway 
slaves {see supra). 

2 Namely, to build a town and fort on the east bank of the 
upper Moroco, right by this Dutch outpost, and to settle the 
surrounding country 



123 



Uo. xx. 



about it. It was an open, public exec- 
utive act, and must have been known to 
the Dutch Ambassador. Yet there was 
not a word of complaint, either from him 
or his Government. The almost necessary 
inference therefore, is that if the Dutch had 
ever set up any claim of title to the 
Moroco, or to any territory west of that 
river, they had now abandoned it. 

But we are not left to inference alone in 
this matter. In 1794, fifteen years after 
the date of Inciarte's report, and fourteen 
after the date of the Royal Order issued 
in accordance therewith, the Dutch 

Arch, de las Indies Colonial authorities, as well as the Home 
(Span.- Venez. > ? 

Docs.), Vol. III., Government itself, distinctly recognized 
the Moroco, as being " within Spanish 
" territory," as appears from the official 
correspondence of that year, relative to the 
Spanish merchant vessel Nuestra Senora 
de la Conception. 

To sum up then, it appears, 

1. That towards the close of the seven- 
teenth century, the " post " in question was 
originally established on the Pumaron 
river, as "an outlier's lodge," for the 
declared purpose of trade in forest dyes, 
gathered by the Indians ; and that its 
only inmates were two unmarried men, 
employes of the Dutch West India Com- 
pany. 

2. That early in the eighteenth century, 
this same " post " was moved up the 
Wacupo creek, near to a swamp called 
" Courey," where it was maintained on 
precisely the same footing, till 1726, when 
it was again moved, this time to the east 



124 



bank of the Moroco, some 15 or 16 miles 
*rom the mouth of that river, where it 
remained till the first military occupation 
of the colony by the English and French, 
in 1781-3. 

3. That in 1784, when the Dutch re- 
sumed possession, steps were taken to 
move the " post " down to the coast, on 
the east bank of the Moroco, " at its very 
mouth, " where it remained till the final 
extinction of the West India Company in 
1791-2, but was abandoned after the 
second military occupation by the English, 
in 1796. 

4. That when the Dutch again resumed 
possession of the colony in 1802-3, they 
found the " post in ruins," but took steps 
to reestablish it, at the same place on the 
coast east of the Moroco mouth (where a 
sort of frontier "outlook" or " guard" 
seems to have been kept up at intervals), 
till the final occupation of the colony by 
the English, which resulted in the cession 
of 1814. 

5. That at no time, from the seventeenth 
century till the very end of the eighteenth,, 
did this migratory outpost have any 
settlers; that in 1779-80, it was at least 
tacitly acknowledged by the Dutch to be 
within the territorial domain and jurisdic- 
tion of Spain ; and that, in 1794, the 
Moroco river was expressly so acknowl- 
edged, not only by the Dutch Colonial 
authorities, but by the Dutch Government 
as well. 



125 



The Mythical Dutch 
"Post" at Batima. 



West of the Moroco 
river there was never a 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
Vol. I., pp. 248-9, 
Note; 261, 262, 
Note; pp.291, 292, 
248. Vol. II., 
(Dutch Arch.), pp. 
257, 250, 641, 659, 
660, 661. 

De Laet, p. 583. 

Netscher, Hist. 
Guiana. 



Supra, pp. 38-39 et 
Wq., luc. cit. 



Dutch settlement; never 
a Dutch grant of colonial lands ; and 
never a Dutch outpost or trading station. 
Nor was the Waini river ever occupied or 
in any manner used by the Dutch, save 
only for trade and for fishing at its mouth.. 
Even these privileges were never exclu- 
sively enjoyed by the Dutch, and were after- 
wards prohibited to them by the Spaniards,, 
who always claimed that river and asserted 
jurisdiction over it. 

These well authenticated facts of history, 
so clearly brought out by the recent inves- 
tigations of the Washington Commission, 
ought to be sufficient, it would seem, to> 
effectually dispose of any claim or pre- 
tended claim to that region predicated upon 
alleged occupation by the Dutch. But,, 
since the present British contention rests 
mainly, if not entirely, on an alleged tradi- 
tion that, in some remote and now forgotten 
period, the Dutch did, for a short time at 
least, maintain a "post" or a "fort," or 
something of the kind somewhere on 
the Barima river, let us see what founda- 
tion there may have been for this shadowy 
legend. 

The river Barima, it is well known, was- 
the center and stronghold of the Carib- 
Indians; a fierce and warlike tribe, diffi- 
cult to bring under subjection, and often inr 
revolt against the Spanish conquerors. It 
was the chiefs of this tribe to whom Ral- 
eigh exhibited the portrait of his queen in. 
1595; to whom he promised deliverance- 



126 



from Spanish rule, and with whom he left 
two of his men as an earnest of that prom- 
ise. And it was from these savage chiefs 
that the Spanish Colonial authorities took 
the only survivor of these two English- 
men a few months later ; it was they whom 
the Spanish authorities warned uot to re- 
ceive nor entertain any more "foreigners"; 
and it was to them that Captain Keymis, 
Raleigh's lieutenant, confessed, two years 
later, that he came only for "trade," and 
without sufficient force to attack the Span- 
iards. 

Up to that time the Dutch had not even Ib -l d - PP- 42, 43, 44, 
... 45. 
visited that region; and we have already 

seen how futile were all Raleigh's subse- 
quent attempts to wrest it from the grasp 
of the Spaniards. 

The mouth of the Barima, it may be re- 
membered, is the natural gateway from the ^vo^iv^aUm 
eastern estuary of the Orinoco, through the Maps, No. 1-10. 
• i i ,i Ti/r -ip Brit. Admiralty 

inland passage, to the Moroco; and, irom Chart, 1891. 

the earliest times, this inland passage was 
the commonly used avenue of trade between 
the Orinoco and Essequibo delta regions. 
At different times during the first century 
and a half after the discovery and occupa- 
tion of this region by the Spaniards, the 
Barima was visited, for purposes of traffic 
with the Indians, by the subjects of nearly 
all the commercial powers. Thus the Eng- 
lish, according to Keymis, were there for 
"trade" only in 1596-7. The Dutch touched Docs. Wash'n Com., 
there for trade, according to Cabeliau, 1 56, 1 60, 1 ^188^ 
during their first visit to the Guayana coast 190 ' 
in 1598. And the French, who came 



127 



later, traded there early in the seventeenth 
century. 

Ib Id I pp 219 Indeed, the French once temporarily 

220. II., pp. 188, occupied that river, which the Dutch never 

190 195 . 

did. In 1684, when they raided the Ori- 
noco and had been driven out by the Span- 
iards, they took temporary refuge in the 
Barima. Passing thence through the in- 
land waterway to the Moroco, and thence 
across to the Pumaron, they destroyed the 
newly established Dutch settlement on the 
last named river and fortified themselves 
at its mouth. And this, we may remember 
took place subsequent to Commandeur Beek- 
man's suggestion, made to the West India 
Company, that a Dutch "post" or perma- 
nent outliership be established in the 
Barima in order to facilitate trade with the 
Indians; a suggestion which, as we shall 
see presently, was never approved by the 
Company, and never acted upon. 

Fully comprehending the importance of 
the Barima region as a trade center, the 
Dutch had already begun to cultivate the 
friendship of the Caribs; the first step in 
that direction being taken by Commandeur 
Beekman in the year 1683. In his letter 

Docs. Wash'n Com., f January 8th of that year, he cautioned the 
II., pp. 155, 156, J . J ' . . 

157, 158. Company against shrewd bargaining with 

the Iudians, because there was a powerful 
trade rival in the French from Martinique. 
He substantially repeated the same warning 
in his letter of February 25th of that year. 
Ib. Id. 158, 159. On the 25th December of that year, he 

wrote that he had sent one of the Com- 
pany's employes to take up his temporary 



128 



abode among the Indians of the Barima ; 
because, to quote his own words, 

u There is much annatto and letter-wood there, 
" and it is close by Pumaron. Recently, too," he con- 
tinues, "it has been navigated as many as two 
"or three times by (-Jabriel Biscop, and exploited 
" with great success, much to the prejudice of 
" the Company. I hope this will meet your ap- 
proval. That trade, both there and in Pumaron 
" I have forbidden to him, and to all others as well, 
"I wish you would take that river also into your 
" possession, as has been provisionally done by me, 
'' in order to see what revenues it will yield, since I 
" am of opinion that the Company can do as good 
" trade there in an open river as can private in- 
" dividuals." 

Writing again to the Company, under 
date of March 31, 1684, before there had 
been time to receive a reply to his first letter, 
ihe Commandeur says : 

" Pomeroon begins to furnish annually much and 
" good annatto, and much was brought from Barima, 
" as appears from the enclosed list, under No. 7, from 
" which you will see how much has been got by bar- 
" ter here at the fort as well as by all the outliers ; 
''but Gabriel Biscop and other sea-rovers from 
"Surinam not only spoil that trade, but buy up all 
"the letter-wood, which is there fairly abundant and 
" good, and also all the carap oil and hammocks, so 
"that this year I have got only a very few, and they 
" are old and wretched. They traverse and scour the 
" land even into the river Cuyuni. In order some- 
" what to check this, I have had a little shelter made 
" in Barima; and Abraham Boudardt, who is stationed 
" there 1 as outlier in place of Daniel Galle, who is 
" going home, shall sometimes visit that place and 
" stir up the Caribs to the trade in annatto and letter 
" wood — which even the French from the island 
" frequently come with their vessels and get. It 
"would therefore, if I may suggest, not be amiss 

1 Abraham Boudardt was the outlier in Pumaron. The 
Commandeur was often careless about his grammar, so that 
" there " refers to the Pumaron and not to the Barima, as has 
been pointed out by Professor Burr. 



Ib. Id. pp. 158, 159. 



Dutch Arch. 
Docs. Wash'n Com., 

II., No. 59, pp. 

159, 160. 



Docs. Wash'n Com., 
Vol. I., pp., 263-4. 
Notes and loc. cit. 



129 



u that the West India Company, in order to get the 
<l aforesaid trade, should take that river Barima into 
" possession, and should establish there a permanent 
" outliership." 1 

A full text of these letters, in the origi- 
nal Dutch, and also in English translation, 
will be found in the printed documents 
already before the Tribunal. 2 Carefully 
studied, these letters disclose the following 
facts: 

1. That about the beginning of the dry 
season, in 1683, when the Indians would 
be engaged in collecting the dyes and 
other products of the forest, the Essequibo 
Commandeur caused, for the first time, an 
employe of the Company to visit the 
upper Barima "close by" the Pumaron for 
the purpose of bartering with the Indians; 
and that the sojourn of this employe was 
only temporary and experimental, and was 
so intended, appears from the next thing 
which the Commandeur did, namely, 

2. That by the end of March, 1684, just 
before the wet season would begin, he 
caused to be built a "little shelter" there, 

Id. such as an Indian would erect in a single 

night; an improvised shed covered with 
leaves, never meant for a residence, but 
only to afford temporary accommodation to 
the Pumaron outlier who was to "visit" 
there occasionally in order', : to stir up the 
Indians to greater activity in the annatto 
trade. 

1 Not a "post" or " postholder," but a place or lodge 
for an outlier ( uit leggar) , an occasional visitor whose busi 
ness it was to incite the Indians to gather forest dyes, etc. 

2 Rep. and Papers of the^Wash. Com., Vol. II. (Dutch 
Arch.), pp. i58 to 162 inclusive. 



130 



3. That the Commandeur had forbidden 
to the Surinam trader, Gabriel Biscop (or 
Bishop), and all other Hollanders outside 
the Company, the aunatto and gum trade 
in both the Pumaron aud the Barima; 
that is, he had taken those rivers into 
possession for the Company, but only pro- 
visionally, in order to learn something of 
the possibilities of the trade there while 
awaiting the Compauy's approval. If the 
Company should approve his action and 
accept his suggestions, then a permanent 
outliership would be established there; 
otherwise, the man would cease his "visits/* 
and the "little shelter" would be abandoned. 
Confessedly, then, he had acted without 
authority, and all now depended upon the 
Company's answer. 

4. That answer came promptly ; but so far 
from approving the Commandeur's action or 
accepting his suggestions, the long letter of 
the Company was "a string of reproaches 

from beginning to end." Xothing that the Dutch Arch. (Docs, 
poor subordinate had done was satisfactory II.? pp! 16^°165,' 
to the Directors of the Company. He was no!* 67 ' 168, 169, 
arraigned for transcending his authority. Ib. Id. 
His financial honor was impeached. His ° ' '* 
commercial common sense and his sincerity 
were discredited. Even the grammar of 
his letters was mercilessly criticized; he 
was admonished to try to write "pure 
Dutch." In a word, it was such a roasting 
as would have caused almost any other 
man to throw up his commission. 

It is very true there was no direct reply 
to his particular suggestion as to a "post" 
in Barima. It was not even mentioned. 



131 



Dors. Wash'n Com., 
Vol. II., pp. 181, 
182. Vol. I., 
268, Note I 
Netscber, pp. 
374. 



372- 



lb. Id. 
Vol. II., 
199. 



PP. 



192- 



Blue Book No. 3. 
( 1896 ) pp. 75-76. 



Decs. "Wash'n Com., 
II., p. 243.' 



Bat his whole course had been pointedly 
disapproved ; nor did he ever allude to the 
subject again. After his dismissal from the 
service, in 1690, his successor never once 
alluded to it. Neither did the Directors 
of the Company ever once allude to it. Nor 
do the muster rolls of the Company's em- 
ployes, complete from 1691 to 1703, show 
any "post" or other establishment on the 
Barima. Moreover, the Company's pay- 
rolls and those of the Essequibo Colony — 
complete from 1700 on, and which give full 
information as to every outpost and its em- 
ployes — never once mention a Barima 
"post." 

Even the river itself is never once men- 
tioned in the records till 1717, and then only 
incidentally and by private parties. They 
had written to the Company complaining that 
whilst the colonists of Berbice and Suri- 
nam were permitted to trade wherever they 
pleased, "whether in Pumaron, Moroco, 
"Waini, Barima, Orinoco, or Trinidad," 
the Essequibo colonists were denied these 
privileges. But to infer from this that 
"Barima" was thought of as belonging to 
Holland, involves the inference that "Trin- 
idad" was likewise so thought of, which 
would be absurd. Furthermore the 
company's reply precludes such an infer- 
ence. The complainants w r ere granted per- 
mission ''provisionally and until further 
"orders to barter" in each of these places 
"for copaiba," but "not for annatto," trade 
in that commodity being reserved to the 
Company alone. The complainants might 



182 



Supra, p. 07 , Note- 



"barter in the Orinoco" for "six red slaves 
"only, and no more "; but since trade in 
"red slaves," as we have seen, was carried 
on by means of the Caribs outside the limits 
of the Dutch colonies, and in territory 
deemed to be Spanish, neither could the 
Orinoco have been thought of as belonging 
to Holland. 

The next mention of Barima was in 1722. 
The engineer, Maurain Sancterre, had been 
sent by the Company to plan the proposed 
new fort on Flag Island, in the Essequibo 
delta. He went beyond the scope of his Dora. Wash'n Com., 
instructions far enough to suggest that plan- 
tations might be established "in the rivers 
"Demerara, Pumaron, Waini, Barima and 
"all the creeks thereabout"; but the Com- 
pany paid no attention whatever to these 
extra official and over zealous suggestions. 

Twelve years more passed before another 
mention was made of the Barima. In 1734 
the Spanish Governor of Orinoco sent to 
the Dutch Commandeur of Essequibo to 
buy supplies for a large body of troops which 
had just arrived in the Orinoco; explain- 
ing that they were to.be used to prevent 
the planting of a Swedish colony in Barima. 

The Dutch Commandeur furnished the sup- Docs. Wash'n Com.„ 
, , . . , . Vol. II., pp. 257- 

phes as requested, receiving horses in part 266. 

payment ; but in reporting the fact to the 
Company he expressed a suspicion that the 
story about the Swedes might be a ruse of 
the Spaniards, whose augmented strength 
was, he said, alarming in view of the weak- 
ness of the Essequibo colony. He added, 
however, that as the Swedish colony was 



133 



to be "situated between the Orinoco and 
the Company's post at Wacupo," the story 
was not wanting in plausibility ; for, only 
two years before, a Swedish skipper who 
had put in at Essequibo, was to return (so 
it had been reported), "in order to take 
"possession in the river Barima, of a tract 
"of land which the King of Spain had 
"given to the late Elector of Bavaria, then 
"governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and 
"which the Elector has [in turn] presented 
"to the King of Sweden." But in any event, 
the Commandeur urged, troops should 
k Id. pp.262 etseq, be sent to Essequibo, for "if the Swedes 
"should undertake to try to establish them- 
selves between the Orinoco and this Colony 
"on your territory, it would be my duty to 
"prevent it." 

It is manifest from this, as well as from 
the whole context of the Commandeur's let- 
ter, that he did not consider the Barima re- 
gion as belonging to the Company ; but that 
he feared if the Swedes should be prevented 
from settling there they might take it into 
their heads to go further east and trespass 
upon the Company's territory. This is the 
natural and plain import of his letter. 
Otherwise, why was there never a word of 
protest by the Dutch, either against the 
original Spanish grant or its subsequent 
transfer, or even against the claim implied 
by the importation of troops for the forcible 
exclusion of the Swedes? And why, further- 
more, was there no reply from the Company 
as to this apprehended Swedish colony in 
Barima, nor any communication made about 



134 



it to the States-General ? As a matter of 

fact the Swedes never came, and the Bariraa 

region continued under Spanish dominion 

and jurisdiction, as it had always been. 

The next mention of Barima occurs in 

Director-General Gravesande's letter of 

April 1, 1744, addressed to the Company. 

A number of runaway slaves had banded 

themselves together beyond the western 

frontier of the Essequibo colony, and Grave- 

sande "with great difficulty/' as he says, 

had "induced the Caribs of Barima to attack 

them." The Indians killed the runawavs Dutch Arch. (Docs. 

ii ii« «ii i it>w Wash'n Com.) 

and brought their right hands to the Direc- Vol. II., pp. 20_>, 

tor-General, who, as he confessed, " caused 203, 
them to be nailed to a post as a warniug 
to others." Elated at receiving their re- 
ward for this ghastly service, and doubt- 
less exhilarated by Dutch rum, the Indians 
"'offered to answer for all the runaway 
"slaves of this [Essequibo] Colony who make 
"their way toward Orinoco" if the Dutch 
would "establish a postholder in Barima." 
"This," continued Gravesande, "would be 
"of great utility for the buying up of boats 
"and slaves ; but I have not ventured to 
"undertake it without your orders." 

But why, it may be here asked paren- 
thetically, did these Carib Indians want a 
Dutch "post" established in their midst? 
The reason is not far to seek if we but re- Docs. Wash'n Com., 
call the fact that "rum was always on tap" Note/ VoL*' lit 
at Dutch posts, and nominally free to every p. 303. 
Indian who called; and that "the per- 
suasive power of Dutch rum" is attested 
not only by the frequent complaints of the 



135 



Docs. Wash'n Co 
II., p. 304. 



Ib. Id. No. 153. 



Spanish Mission Fathers, but by the ac- 
counts passed between the several post- 
holders and the Company's plantations. 
"Rum and molasses" were among the rec- 
ognized necessities of the postholder or 
outlier whose business it was to stir up the 
Caribs to the trade in annatto and "red 
slaves." 

Under date of August 24, 1744, the Com- 
pany replied to Gravesande that " as for es- 
tablishing a postholder in Barima for the 
"purposes stated" [in his letter of April 
1st of that year], they were " not adverse 
to" his "making a trial" ; cautioning him, 
however, against frauds that would be likely 
to result from it. But, up to March 19, 1746, 
as we learn from Gravesande's letter of that 
date, no post had been established there ; 
lb. I., p. 276. while in the subsequent letters of the Com- 

pany the subject of a Barima post is com- 
pletely ignored. Nor was it ever again di- 
rectly mentioned even by Gravesande him- 
self ; and his frequent incidental allusions to 
the Barima river, during the remainder of 
his long term of office, are of such a char- 
acter as to absolutely preclude the existence 
lb. Id. p. 277, ioc. of a Dutch post there. And what is more 
conclusive on this point is, that not one of 
the muster or pay-rolls of the Company, 
which were sent home regularly year after 
year from that time on, makes any mention 
of a " postholder," " outlier," " visitor," or 
other servant of the Company anywhere in 
Barima. Of course the post had not been 
established. The scheme never begun, had 
been abandoned even in thought. 



cit. 



13G 



Mow the Myth 
Originated, 



But before attempting to 
account for the story that 
there had existed a Dutch 



"post" in Barima at some earlier time, let 
us see how that story was regarded by Grave- 
sande himself. It reached his ears for the 
first time, it seems, in 1748. In his letter of 
December 2d of that year, after expressing 
his wish that he might know "the true 
boundary" of the colony, he says: 

" According to the talk of the old people and of 
"the Indians, this jurisdiction should begin east 
"of the creek Abary, and extend westward as far 
lt as the river Barima, where in old times a post 
" existed ; but this talk gives not the slightest cer- 
" tainty." 

Later on, he inserted a mention of this 
" talk " in a sketch map which he prepared 
for the Company; and again in 1761, he 
mentions that "some very old Caribs," 
had told him they could remember a 
time wheu the Company had a " post w 
in Barima. 

Such was the beginning of the story. Now 
let us observe its growth into a " tradition." 
Attaching little or no importance to it, 
Gravesande nevertheless reported it to the 
Company, and also inserted it in a note to a 
sketch map of the Colony which he likewise 
transmitted. This made it of record in the 
Dutch archives. Twenty years later, in 
1770, Hartsinck, the Dutch historian, who 
had access to the records, took it from Grave- 
saude's map and letters, enlarged and em- 
belllished it, and gave it wide circulation. 
Twenty-eight years after this, in 1798, 
Bouchenroeder copied it from Hartsinck 



Docs. Wash'n Com.. 

II., p. 322. 
Blue Book. No. o. p. 

90. 



D.>e>. Wash'n Com.. 
Vol. IV.. Atlas, 
No. 60. 

Blue Book, No. o. p 
117. 



Docs. "Wash'n Com.. 
Vol. I., p. 278 
Vol. II., pp. 436- 
457. Hartsinck, 
Beschryrins? van 
Guiana, I., p. 2-37. 



137 



and incorporated it in his map of Dutch 
Guiana. If he transposed the geographical 
positions of the rivers Bariraa and Amacura, 
giving the latter the place of the former, and 
vice versa, he was in this, as in his story of 
the "ancien poste Hollanclaise," a mere 
copiest, and the one error was about as gro- 
Docs. AVash'n Com. tesque as the other. Thus it was through 
Hartsinck and Boucheuroeder that the tra- 
dition" became general. It all started from 
the idle story by an old Carib Indian and 
his associates, who had tried to induce 
the Commandeur of Essequibo to establish 
a rum shop somewhere on the upper reaches 
of the Bar i ma river. 

But how about the story itself, in the 
original form in which it first came to 
Gravesande's ears, in 1748. If, as Lord 
Bacon has somewhere said, and as has 
been so often substantially repeated by 
others since his day, every myth is but 
" the shadow of some forgotten fact," and 
"every falsehood contains a soul of truth," 
this Indian story can hardly be held an ex- 
ception. It must have had at least some 
foundation. What, then, was that founda- 
tion? 

The attentive reader can hardly have 
failed to anticipate the answer. The period 
lK T P^27S. n C ° m ' subsequent to 1700, as Professor Burr well 
points out, may as well be dismissed from 
thought at once. There was no ''post" or 
other Dutch establishment in the Barima 
after' that date; the muster and pay-rolls 
of the Company and of the Colony make 
that certain. Nor could there have been 
one there at any time during the fifteen 



138 



ih. id. 



years prior to that date ; the silence of the 
records, and the known relations of the 
French with the Barima from 1684 on, 
make that equally certain. Moreover, the 
language of Commandeur Beekman in 
1683-4, urging the Company to take that Sv ? ra - W>- 127 " 128 - 
river into possession, shows that he had 
never heard of any tradition of an earlier 
"post" there. The Indian's story, then, 
could have had no other foundation than the 
fact that an employe had been stationed 
there by Beekman himself during the dry 
season of 1683-4, and that he had caused 
to be built there a "little shelter" lor oc- 
casional "visits" during the rainy season. 

From 1684, date of the erection of Beek- 
man's "little shelter," to 1748, when the 

"ancien poste" storv first reached Grave- Docs. Wasta'n Cora.. 

1 - Vol. II., pp. lo9- 

sande, gives a period of 64 years; so the 322. 
old Indian who related the story either 
never saw the "little shelter" at all, or else 
saw it only as a very young lad. If he 
never personally saw it, then his evidence 
is only hearsay and practically worthless 
as Gravesande himself intimates. If, how- 
ever, he saw it as mere lad, then what was 

more likely to have impressed itself upon Does. Wash'n Cora, 
i • * .i j n (Prof. Burr's 

nis memory was not the duration or ire- jj ep j Y6\. j , 

quency of a Dutch outlier's visits, but "the P- 279 - 
presence there of a white man's shelter or 
its ruins," which greeted the boy's eyes "as 
he paddled through the familiar recesses of 
his home stream." And if to this circum- 
stance be added the probability that, during 
the visits of the Pumaron outlier, his 
conduct was not unlike that of outliers or 



139 



postholders in other places ; that he wa& 
similarly equipped with a supply of Dutch 
rum, and with the Company's wares; that he 
was buying up annatto and other Indiau 
products in the name of the Company, and 
in the Company's name had warned off the 
Surinam traders ; and that the Indians 
could not possibly have known he was there 
without the Company's authority or sanction, 
and that his visits had been discontinued in 
consequence — if all these reasonable prob- 
abilities be considered in connection with 
the " little shelter" of the white man which 
the boy had seen falling into decay or was- 
already in ruins, we have an adequate basis 
for the later tradition that there once ex- 
isted a Dutch "post" there. 

So much, then, for this Indian story or 
" tradition/' whereof we have heard so- 
much during the past dozen years in justi- 
fication of the monstrous claim by Great 
Britain to the Orinoco mouth. Of course 
any claim to title which has no better founda- 
tion, must be dismissed as worthless. Let 
us see, then, what other grounds there may 
have been for this claim to Barima. 

Under date of 
7 he Circumstance of Dutch . . 

April 14, 1753, 
Passports to Barima. . ' 

Director-General 

Gravesande informed the Company of a 

rumor current in Essequibo, that Swedish 

emissaries had " arrived in Surinam to make 

" enquiry respecting the river Barima * * 
Docs. Wash'n Com. • j , r . ,,, , , , 

( Dutch Arch. ) in 01 'der to bring over a settlement there." 

Vol. II., pp. 340- While he hardly credited this story, there- 
were, he says, "many circumstances" con- 



140 



nected with it which caused him anxiety; 
••"wherefore," he writes, "I urgently re- 
" quest that I may be honored with your 
" orders how I am to conduct myself in 
" that case/' 

It would be an unwarranted inference to 
conclude from this that even Gravesande 
regarded the Barima as Dutch territory. 
But, whatever he may have then thought, 
it seems that four years later, in 1757, he 
was very decidedly of the opinion that the 
Barima was Spanish territory. 

In his letter of February loth of that Ib - Id - M „ 
J pp. 372-373. 

year, he informed the Company that com- 
plaints from the Spanish Governor of 
Orinoco had frequently come to him " con- 
cerning the evil conduct" of Dutch "traders 
or rovers in Barima"; and that he had 
"written circumstantially about it to the 
ad interim Governor" in Surinam (Mr. 
Xepvue), whose reply he was then await- 
ing. Seven years later, on the 18th August, 
1764, he addressed another letter to the 
Surinam Governor in which he calls that 
official's attention to the fact that the naming 
of the river Barima in passports given to 
Dutch traders had caused " complaints from Ih - Id - P- 4u3 - 
" the Spaniards, who, maintaining that that 
" river is theirs, wherein I believe they are 
" right, have already sent some of these 
" passes to the Court of Spain." In order 
to avoid this cause of complaint, or giving 
umbrage to the Spanish authorities, he sug- 
gests that in all passports "only permission 
" to pass the posts and to go among the In- 
dians to trade" be given, " without naming 
any place." 



141 



It is very manifest from all this, (1) 
That the Spaniards had unequivocally 
asserted supervision and control over the 
Barima region • (2) That Gravesande, being 
well aware of this, had nevertheless, made 
no complaint or protest; (3) That he be- 
lieved the Spanish claim to the Barima a 
just one; and (4) that, acquiescing in that 
assertion of claim, and in order to give no 
further cause of complaint, he suggested 
that, in all passes given to Dutch traders, 
the name " Barima" be prudently omitted. 
" Such being the Essequibo Governor's 
lh \o\ I p 283 attitude," remarks Professor Burr, " it was 
unlikely that he would encourage Dutch 
settlements in the Barima." And as a 
matter of iact, down to 1764, no Dutchmen 
had ever been there save for purpose of 
trade only. 

On the 6th of April 
Dutch Claim ._. ~ 

to the Barima. 1 ' 66 > Director-Genera, 
Gravesande complained to 
' C W^r h 'oSS); the West India Company that a gang of 
Vol. II.,p. 414. disreputable colonists of Essequibo ("rag- 
tag and bobtail," as he described them) 
had taken up their abode in Barima under 
various pretexts, such as "fishing, trading, 
and lumbering," and were making the place 
"a den of thieves." As the left or west 
bank of that river was, he said, "certainly 
Spanish territory," he was going to ask the 
Governor of Orinoco to join him in break- 
ing up this "den," or to permit him to do 
so, or to suggest some other plan to that 
-end. 

Recurring to the same subject, in his 



142 



letter of March 20th, 17(37, in which he lb. Id. pp. 42&, 42& 
advises the Company that he had sent an 
officer there to arrest the evil-doers, he 
says : " We and the Spaniards alike regard the 
"river Barima as the boundary division be- 
tween the two jurisdictions, the east bank 
"being the Company's territory and the 
"west bank Spanish." Fearing, however, 
that his envoy might go to the west bank 
also, he says he gave the Spanish Governor 
"a circumstantial account of this matter 
'•and asked him whether he cared to send 
'•some men, in order, hand-to-hand, to clear 
"out this nest." The Orinoco Governor, 
however (as Gravesande says), sent only an Jb H 
oral message to just go ahead and "collar" 
the miscreants. Whereupon the Moroco 
postholder was sent there under strict 
orders not to set foot on "the Spanish bank 
of the river"; but "'as to the islands lying in 
"the river, not to avoid these, because they 
"were uncertain territory." These orders, 
says the Director-General, were faithfully 
obeyed, the ringleader (one van Rosen by 
name) "being apprehended on our shore." 

After having been tried by the authori- 
ties in Essequibo, this van Rosen was ban- Id.\o\. L, p. 284.. 
ished from the Colony ; but what became ° ' " P ' 
of his associates is not stated. It is men- 
tioned, however, that the Essequibo court 
issued a general order positively forbidding 
all colonists to sojonrn "in Barima," lest it 
should "expose us to the danger of getting 
"mixed up in a quarrel with our neighbors 
"the Spaniards." 

Now, from all this it appears, 



143 



■Supra, pp. 13-18. 



1. That only u the river Barima/' from its 
lb d V 1 IV moutn upwards, was under consideration. 

Atlas, Maps No! The CaTw Barima, or " Barima Pass," as 
it is sometimes styled, into which that 
river disembogues, and which, as we have 
seen, constitutes the eastermost estuary of 
the Orinoco, was in no way involved. But 
even if it had been, neither Point Barima 
nor Barima Island was included in 
Gravesande's claim, because both being on 
the west or left bank of the channel, were, 
according to his own statement, on the 
Spanish side of the line. 

2. That even with respect to the " river 
Barima," which is so specifically named as 
to exclude all thought of the Carlo Barima, 
we have only Gravesande's unsupported 
opinion that its east or right bank was 

Dutch Arch. (Docs. Dutch; and that opinion, we may remem- 
Wash'n Com.), ber, was in conflict with his own admission 

Vol. II., pp. 305, ' . _ . . _. , . 

308-9, 311, 347-8. elsewhere made, that he did not know where 
the boundary was. 

3. That equally unsupported by evidence, 
either cited or produced by him, is his 
ex parte statement that the Spaniards 
regarded " the river Barima " as the " di- 
viding line between the two jurisdictions." 
And finally : 

4. It nowhere appears that either the 
Dutch West India Company or the Dutch 
Government ever accepted or acted upon 
this opinion and ex parte statement of the 
Director-General. 

Such being the facts in relation to the 
Director-General's claim to a part of the 
Barima region, let us now carefully note 
the sequel, for that tells the whole story. 



144 



Despite the order of the Essequibo court 
, , . , r . J . 7K ft Vol. Ill, PP ,. 

forbidding any colonist to even "sojourn" 452. 45a. 

in Barima ; despite the express injunction 
by the Director-General himself not to 
settle anywhere " between Essequibo and 
Orinoco " j and despite the fact that this 
injunction had been inserted in a passport 
given to one La Riviere, an Essequibo colon- 
ist, that person, nevertheless, went thither 
with his slaves and family, established him- 
self there, died there soon afterwards, and 
left his estate to his widow. Early in the 
spring of 17 68, when the Spanish authori- 
ties at San Thome heard of this, they sent S P a A n " ^ e " ez ; Dt f- 

J J ' Arcb. de l»s ln- 

a coast guard vessel to "warn off the for- dies), Vol. 1.. pp . 

231-234 

eigners" and purge the whole region. This 
Spanish force sailed up the Barima river, 
destroyed all the buildings and plantations 
found on either side, and confiscated all 
movable property which the Dutch squat- 
ters had left behind them. The widow 
La Riviere returned to Essequibo, but what 
became of the others (if indeed there were 
any others) is not known. 

Here, then, was an official, open and 
unequivocal assertion of Spanish dominion 
and jurisdiction over both banks of "the 
river Barima," from its mouth to its upper- 
most reaches. Of course the Dutch au- 
thorities at Essequibo, of which Gravesande 
was still head, could but know this, for the 
widow La Riviere had fled thither and told 
her story. And yet, to adopt the cautious 
language of Professor Burr's report, "of 

Ih It "Vol X ?{y 

"protest by the Dutch authorities there c ' °" ' ,p * 
" seems to have been no thought,"' and 



145 



" never again," he continues, "is there any 
" mention in Dutch documents of the stay 
" of any Dutchman" anywhere in the Ba- 
rima region. Never again did the aggres- 
sive Gravesande suggest the- "river Barima" 
as a possible boundary line "between the 

lb. Mp. 289. two jurisdictions," and never afterwards 

was a Dutch trader heard of in that river. 
Nor is the Barima once mentioned as a pos- 
sible frontier line in the Remonstrance of 
1769, addressed to the Court of Spain by 
the Dutch Government. So the claim to 
that river as a boundary, never indeed made 
except by a subordinate, was now aban- 

Ib. id. p. 290. doned even by him, and the Spaniards, 

who had never renounced their claim to 
that river, remained in full and undisputed 
possession. 

Nor was this condition of affairs ever 
changed by subsequent events. From 
this time forth the Dutch records are sis:--- 
Vol. I., p. 289. nmcantly silent as to the .Barima region.. 

In their Remonstrance of 1769, just refer- 
red to, the Dutch Government not only 
prudently avoided any mention of the river 
Barima as a possible boundary, but were 
equally careful to avoid any mention of the 
Cano Barima in that connection. They 
cautiously and vaguely describe their claim 
as merely extending " to beyond the 
Waini." And even this modified but 
vague and indefinite claim, was subse- 
quently abandoned ; for when the Spanish 
Government refused to consider the Dutch 
complaint, but justified the action of the 
Oriuoco authorities on the ground that the 



146 



whole Northwest Coast Region belonged to 
Spain, the Dutch acquiesced. Moreover, 
from this time forth the Colonial trade 
between the Essequibo and the Orinoco, 
hitherto encouraged by the Dutch Govern- 
ment, was now completely reversed, it 
being carried on, not by the Dutch from 
the Essequibo to the Orinoco, as formerly, 
but by the Spaniards from the Orinoco to 
the Essequibo. 

Thus the ephemeral and esc parte claim 
to the Barima river as a boundary, made 
by a subordinate of the West India Com- 
pany, became a thing of the past. It was 
Hartsinck who revived it by resurrecting 
the old Indian's story which Gravesande 
had made of record in 1748 ; and this 
revival of the "ancien poste" myth of 
Barima found recognition first in 1783 on 
an English map made from the observa- 
tions of Thompson, and second adopted by 
Bouchenroecler in 1798. 

But this revival of the old story, 
while it did not alter the facts in the case, 
led to another very significant incident 
which deserves notice in this connection. 
In 1801a " Confidential Agent," who had 
been sent to represent the Dutch Council 
of the Colonies at the Congress of Amiens, 
was instructed to try to have the Colonial 
boundary defined as being at the Barima 
river, if indeed he could not do still better 
by having it defined at the Orinoco mouth 
itself. The Agent, however, explained to 
his principals that he found it unwise to 
even mention the subject. So he prudently 



Docs Wash'n Com., 
Vol. II., p 394. 
Br. Blue B., pp. 
119-616. 



Beschryring van 
Guiana, L, p. 146. 

Docs. Wash'n Com., 
Vols. III. and 
IV., Maps 43, 46, 
70. 



Supra p. 136. 



Doc=. Wash'n Com., 
Vol. I , p 290 and 
Notes. Vol. II., 
pp. 639, 644, 645- 
647. 



* 



147 



kept silent. He furthermore reported that 
the only way to extend the Dutch boundary 
westward was by " purchase" from the 
Spaniards ; but that even such a proposition 
as that would be both delicate and haz- 
ardous. 

That was the end of it. The negotia- 
tions looking to an extension of the Dutch 
possessions were never undertaken ; and in 
18 03, when the English again came into 
military possession of the Essequibo Colony, 
its most westerly outpost was still on the east 
side of the Moroco, near its mouth. Of 
course the alleged " marking out" and ap- 

Blue Book No. I. portion ment by the British during their 
(189fj) p. 19. ... „ . ~ , 

prior military occupation or the Colony in 

1796-7, of all the lands from Essequibo 
to Point Barima, even if true, amount- 
ed to nothing. By a well known prin- 
ciple of public law, the British could re- 
turn the Colony to its owner only as they 
had found it. They could have neither en- 
larged nor contracted its boundaries. If, 
during their military occupancy, they made 
an unjustifiable aggression upon adjacent 
Spanish territory at a time when Spain was 
not in a position to promptly resent it, that 
fact could not change the law of nations ; 
and there is no principle of international law 
which admits the right of a belligerent to 
alter the boundaries of a province or State 
captured and held prior to final settlement 
of peace. Moreover, it appears from the 
proceedings of the Council of the Ameri- 
Docs. Wash'n Com. can Colonies and possessions of the Bata- 

(Dutch Archives), r 

Vol. II., pp. 659, vian Republic, in the early part of the year 

660, 661, 10v 



148 



1803, and before the Colony again fell into Burr's Rep., 

the hands of the British, in September of Note. 

that year, that the Dutch knew nothing of 

this alleged " marking out or if they did, 

that they wholly ignored it as irrevelant, 

legally monstrous, and of no practical effect 

whatever. 

Id 1827, thir- 
Testltnony of British . », 

i , » . teeu years after 

Official Documents. 

the final cession 
of Essequibo Colony to the Euglish, the 
situation had not materially changed, except 
that the old Dutch outpost on the coast, 
on the east side of the Moroco, appears 
to have been abandoned. It appears, also, 
from an official dispatch from Governor 
D'Urban to the Home Government, dated Pftr ]- Pa P* rs ; Se s *- 

1828, V <u . 23. 

October 18th, 1827, that there was not a App. 

single Dutch or English settlement or 

other establishment west of the Pumaron jd 

river, which, as late as September, 1838, YoL 85 ' P- 424 - 

Governor Light declared to be the western 

extremity of the Colony. 

It was only about eighteen months before 
this, in May, 1836, that the British Gov- 
ernment formally requested, through its 
diplomatic agent at Caracas, that Vene- Official Hist. Di*., 
zuela would establish a lighthouse and and 5. PP ' ' 
buoy*, and an improved pilot service, in 
the main or eastern mouth of the Orinoco, 
and thence upward by way of Point Ba- 
rima and the mouth of the Barima river to 
the Amacuro and beyond; thus showing 
that, up to that time at least, there had 
been no question as to Venezuela's title, 
either to the eastern estuary of the Orinoco 



149 



Pari. Papers, 

"Accounts, Kail- 
ways/' etc., Vol. 
63. App. 



Off. Hist. Dis., etc.. 
pp. 33-38. 



Pari. Papers, 

"Accts. Post Of- 
fices, Railways, 
Shippers, Docks 
and Harbors, 
Lighthouses,"etc, 
Vol.53. App. 



or to Barima Point, or to Barima Carlo, or 
to either of the rivers Barima and Amacuro. 

In 1846, so far from having made any 
advance westward, the British had practi- 
cally abandoned even the Pumaron; for 
their settlements did not then extend more 
than midway on the coast between the 
Essequibo and Pumaron. This is clearly 
shown by an official map of "the settled 
districts," as compiled from the manuscript 
" map of British Guiana, by permission of 
" the author, Sir Robert Schomburgk,. 
" October, 1846," and published by au- 
thority of the British Parliament in 1847. 

iNor had there been any material changes 
as late as 1850, when the mutual pledge 
was given, by exchange of diplomatic notes, 
not to occupy or attempt to occupy any 
portion of the territory in dispute. Vene- 
zuela had already, in compliance with the 
request made in 1836, established a Light- 
ship, buoys, and pilot service at the eastern 
mouth of the Orinoco, and thence upward to 
Point Barima and beyond to the Amacuro. 
And that this Light-ship was still there in 
1850, is shown even by British official pub- 
lications. Thus, in volume 53 of the Par- 
liamentary Papers, " session 31st January to 
15th August, 1850/' is an official map 
showing all the Lighthouses, Light-ships, 
&c, in the West India Islands and on the 
northern coast of South America from the 
Isthmus to the Essequibo, on which all 
"British" Lights, &c, are designated in 
red, and all "Foreign" Lights, &c, in 
black. But precisely in the eastern mouth 
of the Orinoco, near by Point Barima, 



150 



there is marked on this map a Light ship 
or " floating light " with attendant buoys 
designated in black, that is to say as 
" loreign or Venezuelan. 1 

This, however, merely corroborates what 
we kuow from Venezuelan official sources. 
The Republic not only had a Light ship, yjj xi., pp. 674, 
buoys, and a regular pilot service there in 6 " 6 - 
1850 : but these evidences of Venezuelan 
sovereignty and jurisdiction were there, in- 
tact, 23 years afterwards, in 1873, and from 
that time on till 1884. when the British 
took forcible possession of Barima Point, 
expelled the Venezuelan officials, and 
usurped jurisdiction there. And it was lb. Id. Vol. IX See 
this very actot violence and usurpation, as Brief "ParTli" 
we may remember, which led to the diplo- 
matic rupture of 1887. 



From the foregoing 
De Facto Boundary as brie f but nece ssarilr 
Shown by the Acts 

of the Parties. tedious, review of the 

acts of the parties from 
1648 to 18 14 the following facts are manifest: 
1. That at the date of the Treaty of 
1648, and for a full decade thereafter, the 
Dutch held no possessions in Guayana ex- 
cept in the Essequibo. And their estab- 
lishment there was not in any sense a 
Colony with outlying territory : but only a 
mere post for traffic with the Indians, and 
consisted of a few unmarried employes of 
the Dutch West India Company, housed in 

i The writer is indebted to Mr. P. Lee Phillips, expert car- 
tographer, of the Congressional Library, at Washington for 
tnis official publication by the British GoTernment. 



151 



a little fort on an island at the junction of 
the Cuyuni and Mazaruni, near the left 
bank of the Essequibo. 

2. That Dutch colonization did not really 
begin there, nor elsewhere on the northern 
cost of Guayana, till about 1657-8, 'when 
a new settlement was planted in the Puma- 
ron. This settlement was broken up and 
destroyed, first by the English in 1665-6, 
and again by the French in 1689, and wa s 
never afterwards re-established. The rive r, 
however, continued to be claimed by the 
Dutch West India Company, which kept 
up an outpost there for traffic with the 
Indians. This outpost or trading station 
was afterwards removed, first, to Wacupo 
creek, an affluent of the Pumaron on its 
western side, and then to the right or east 
bank of the Moroco, some 16 miles in- 
land from the coast; and finally down 
to the coast on the same side of the 
Moroco at its mouth, where it remained till 
the military occupation of the Essequibo 
Colony by the English in 1796. It was 
found in ruins, however, when the Dutch 
resumed possession in 1802; nor had it 
been re-established in 1803, when the Eng- 
lish again took military possession of the 
country. Nor is there any evidence of its 
subsequent re-establishment by the Eng- 
lish, either before or after 1814. 

3. That there was never, at any time, a 
Dutch settlement, outpost or trading 
station, grant of colonial lands, or other 
evidence of Dutch occupation or sover- 
eignty west of the Moroco river ; and that 




152 



subsequent to the Expulsion (from the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni Region, in 1758-1771, 
and from the Northwest Coast Region, in 
1768), the Dutch Government by acquies- 
cence in the result, tacitly acknowledged the 
Moroco river, and the water-parting 
thence across to the lower Cataracts of 
the Cuyuni and Mazaruni, as the de facto 
boundary line between the two jurisdic- 
tions. 

4. That the alleged "aneien Dutch 
poste" in the Barima, which Schomburgk" 
imagination magnified into a "Dutch fort," 
never had an existence ; the only foundation 
for the story being Commandeur Beek- 
man'ri improvised "little shelter," placed 
there in 1684, for the accommodation of 
the Pumaron outlier during his contem- 
plated "visits" in the v>et season. Com- 
mandeur Beekman's action not being ap- 
proved, the Pumaron outlier's "visits" 
were discontinued, and the "little shelter" 
was abandoned. Nearly half a century 
later, in 1744-8, the establishment of an 
outlier's post or lodge in that river was 
again suggested, and this time provisionally 
approved by the West India Company; 
but no post or outlier's lodge of any kind 
was ever established there. 

5. At no time did the Dutch ever at- 
tempt to plant a settlement above the 
lower Cataracts in the Cuyuni and Maza_ 
runi; nor in the Barima region, nor elsewhere 
on the coast west of the Moroco. In 1766 
a gang of Dutch thieves and smugglers 
was dislodged irom the Barima by the Esse- 



153 



quibo authorities, not however till after 
permission to that end had been granted 
by the Spanish Governor of Orinoco. In 
1768, when some other Essequibo col- 
onists had settled there in defiance of 
their own Colonial authorities, they were 
driven out, and their plantations destroyed 
by the Orinoco Spaniards without the 
semblance of complaint or protest either 
by the Dutch West India Company or by 
the Dutch Government. 

6. That whilst both Spain and Venezuela 
have persistently contended that the Esse- 
quibo was and is the de jure boundary, 
nor ever recognized any de facto boundary 
west of the Moroco, neither Holland nor 
Great Britain ever formulated a definite 
claim to any boundary line. In ] 674 
when the new West India Company took 
over the assets of the old Company, which 
had owned and governed all the Dutch 
colonies in Guayana, the only possessions 
mentioned in the deed of transfer were 
" the places of Essequibo and Pumaron ; " 
but the boundaries of those " places, " 
left undefined alike by the new 
Charter and by the new Company itself, 
remained undefined. For although the 
Eemonstrance of 1769 seemed to imply 
some definite claim to boundary, the bound- 
ary is vaguely described as extending "to 
beyond the Waini," on the ooast, and in 
the interior to a point " between" the de- 
stroyed Dutch "post" in the Cuyuni and 
4< the nearest Spanish Missions"; this claim 
was voted by the Spanish Cabinet to be 



154 



" frivolous" and " unfounded," and as the 
Dutch Government acquiesced in that de- 
cision the claim was abandoned. 

Thus much, then, for the acts of the 
parties themselves; acts, which as we have 
.^een, when taken in connection with the 
peculiar topographical conformation of the 
country, so unmistakably indicate a de 
facto boundary line that its specific men- 
tion seems almost superfluous. For the 
attentive reader can hardly have failed to 
recognize that line as beginning on the coast 
at the mouth of the Moroco river; as extend- 
ing thence up that river to the source of its 
main affluent, the Manawarima creek; as ex- 
tending thence along the water-parting be- 
tween the two delta regions of the Orinoco 
and Essequibo, to the eastern spur of the 
Imatacas; and thence, without crossing a 
single stream or mountain ridge, to the outer 
eastern rim of the great Interior Basin of the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni ; and so along the south- 
eastern crest of that rim to upper Essequibo. 
Itonly remains, then, to be considered how 
far under the rules of the present Treaty, 
and by the principles of international law 
applicable to the case, that line may now 
be deemed a de jure boundary. 



PART IV. 



P h i 1 1 i m o re. Int. 
Law, I. COXXII. 



PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 
APPLICABLE TO THE CASE. 



By the law of nature, as 
Original ' 
Acquisition h Y the Roman law, whence 
are derived the elementary 
principles underlying the whole doctrine 
of original Acquisition, he who first reveals 
or makes known a thing, previously exist- 
ing but not hitherto perceived by or known 
to others, is said to be its first discoverer ; 
and since the thing thus discovered has no 
owner, the right to reduce it to possession, to 
use it, to own it, to exercise dominion over 
it, is with the first discoverer exclusively. 

But this right is not translated into per- 
fect title until the discoverer actually and 
corporeally takes the thing iuto possession 
with the desire and intention to make it 
his own ; and this must be done within a 
reasonable/time. What may be deemed "a 
reasonable time" will, of course, depend 
upon the conditions and circumstances in 
each particular case. 

If the discoverer merely retains the thing,, 
without the desire and intention to make it 
his own, he may be said to be in possession, 
but only in "a gross and incomplete 
sense"; for there must be a union of act 
and intention to make the possession com- 
plete. Neverthless, the inchoate title of 
the discoverer holds as against a second 
comer so long as the detention actually con- 



156 

tinues: and from this condition, the u de- 
-sire and intention' 7 to make the thing his 
own, may be reasonably inferred. 

If the discoverer retains the thing in the 
belief that he i- the first discoverer, and 
therefore the rightful owner, though in this 
he be mistaken, and he be not the rightful 
owner, he may nevertheless, under certain 
conditions and qualifications, acquire title 
by the operation of time, that is by pre- 
scription. 

There are, then, three kinds ot posses- 
sion, each derived from the law of nature 
and supported by the old Civil law, name- 
ly : 1. Xatural possession, which consists 1 ' T ~ 
in the bare seizure and detention of a thing 
res null i us; 2. Legal possession, properly 
so called, by act and intention: and 3. Pos- 
session by operation of time or by prescrip- 
tion. 

The first named gives incipient or in- 
choate title, to be perfected by its union 
with desire and intention, expressed or im- 
plied. The second unites all the ingre- 
dients of good and perfect title. , The third 
gives good title in so far only as it creates a 
presumption, equivalent to proof, that good ^ V ^ n * ^ ~r Irit * 
title exists, derived from higher sources; 
and it destroys title only so far as it creates 
a like presumption that title has been trans- 
ferred or abandoned. 

It is manifest therefore 
Sature of „ D . 

that what we call rrescnp- 
Prescription. . * 

tion, independent ot legisla- 
tion or of positive agreement, gives only 
presumptive title. It neither creates nor 



157 



-destroys title. It is only evidence and 
nothing more. It creates a presumption, 
equivalent to full proof, that good title ex- 
ists, the origin of which has completely 
faded from human memory. But it differs 
from full proof in this, that whereas full 
proof is conclusive and final, prescription 
is conclusive only until met by counter- 
proof or by a stronger counter-presump- 
tion. 

According to English jurists, prescrip- 
tion is "the limit of time within which 
one may acquire certain legal rights by use 
and occupation, by reason of the want of 
vindication of such rights by some other 
person who has failed or neglected to put 
his legal remedies in force." This is the 
generally accepted definition; but in prac- 
tice it has a more restricted meaning. 
For in England prescription is confined to a 
certai n class of rights, such as rights of way, 
of watercourse, of fishing, shooting, etc.; 
and in each case the use must be without 
dispute, that is to say uninterrupted and 
peaceful. 

In most of the States of the United 
States, Prescription applies (as in some 
other countries) to all property rights, 
real, personal, and incorporeal. But, to be 
valid, the possession must not have origi- 
nated in violence or fraud; must have been 
peaceful, public, continuous, and exclusive ; 
must have been accompanied by a bona fide 
claim of right ; and, in some cases, there 
must have been actual notice to the adverse 
party. And, with respect to lands, the 
possession must have been evinced by some 



158 



mark or inclosure, or by cultivation, use, 
or occupation so open and notorious as to 
attract the attention of every adverse claim- 
ant. It must likewise have been so ex- 
clusive as to prevent actual occupation by 
another. 

With respect to title bv 
Acquisition . . * 

original discovery and posses- 
by Nations. . . , . 

sion, there has never been 

any question as to its application between 
nations as between individuals; and it ap- 
plies to all territory not previously held by 
a civilized State. This principle, as we 
have already seen, was introduced into the Supra, Part II- 
law of nations both theoretically and 
practically as early as the sixteenth century , 
in order to settle disputes among the mari- 
time nations of Europe with regard to their 
respective possessions in the New World. 

At first, European powers seemed dis- 
posed to recognize discovery alone as 
sufficient to create good and complete title. 
But in the course of time the doctrine pre- 
vailed that discovery must be supplemented 
by some formal act of taking possession : 
by some expression of the will ot the State. 
That is to say, there had to be the union Vattel, B. I. §'207.- 
of act and intention. And the act of dis- 
covery, as well as the subsequent act of 
intention by taking possession, had to be 
made in the name and by the authority of 
the Government, or be subsequently rati- 
fied by it. In the sixteenth century, as 
later on, it was usual to signify this inten- 
tion of taking possession by the erection of 
a cross, by hoisting the national flag, by 



159 



written or oral proclamation, or by any 
ceremony of clear import done on the spot 
and in a public manner. 

The territories thus sought to be reduced 
to possession, had to be res nullius — that is 
to say, they must have been no part of the 
possessions of a civilized State. It was not 
necessary that they should be uuinhabited. 
We have already seen that tracts inhabited 
or roamed over by savage tribes were 
.Supra, Part II. deemed res nullius, and were legally appro- 

priated by European powers. Sometimes 
there was a pretence of compensation to the 
natives, but generally with no regard what- 
ever for their claims or wishes. The rights 
of the natives were held to be moral, not 
legal. International law knew nothing of 
them, though international morality might 
require that they be treated with considera- 
tion. 

Such was the law when the continent of 
America was being portioned out among 
the civilized States of Europe ; and this ap- 
portionment was fully ratified, first by the 
celebrated Monroe Declaration of 1823, in 
which England participated, and in which 
the other European powers acquiesced, and 
again towards the middle of the nineteenth 
century when the treaty of 1846 divided 
the great Northwest between the United 
States and the British empire. So that from 
1823, or at farthest from 1846, onwards 
every foot of ground in the New World 
was deemed to be part of the territory of 
some civilized State, and no Power was free 
to obtain fresh possessions by occupation. 



160 



But just how far, ii" 
Prescription as . . 

at all, the principle of 
Applied to Nations*. ! . r . 1 

prescription is appli- 
cable between nation and nation has been, 
a source of much controversy. Some em- 
inent jurists, amoug whom was the learned 
German publicist, Kliiber, who wrote lat^- 
in the eighteenth century, have denied i 
that it can have any place in international 
law. But this opinion is sustained neither - 
by the majority of recognized authorities, nor. 
by the general practice of nations. Gro- 
ttos, Yattel, Wolf, Rutherforth, Burke. 
Wheaton, and Phillimore, not to mention, 
others little less eminent, all maintain that 
prescription, whether derived from the law 
of nature or from the Civil law, or whether 
adopted as a matter of public policy aud 
convenience only, ought to, and does in. 
practice, apply between nations as between 
individuals. 

Thus Yattel, who wrote in the middle > 
of the eighteenth century, in his chapter 
on Acquisition, says: 

''The tranquillity of the people; the safety of States - 
"the happiness of the human race, do not allow that 

"the possessions, empire and other rights of nations. V«ttel R II C 
'•should remain uncertain, suhject to dispute, and XI. £W0. (Chit-- 
"ever ready to occasion bloody wars. Between na- l > s tion.) 
"tions, therefore, it becomes necessary to admit pre- 
scription founded on length of time as a valid and 
"incontestable title. If any nation has kept silence 
" through fear, and as it were through necessity, the 
" loss of her right is a mis'ortune which she ought 
"patiently to bear, since she could not avoid it; and 
"why should she not submit to this as well as to have 
" her towns and provinces taken from her by an un- 
just conqueror, and to be forced to cede them to 
"him by treaty. It is, however, only incases of 
" long continued, undisputed, and imvUerrupted poshes- 



161 



Whenton, El'ts Int. 
Law. Pt. II.. C. 
IV. §4. 



Ph i 1 1 i more, 
Law, I. 



Int. 



Vattel, Law of Na- 
tions, Pt. II. C. 
XI. §140. 



" sion, that prescription i& established on these- 
" grounds, because it is necessary that affairs should: 
"some time or other be brought to a conclusion, and 
"settled on a firm and solid foundation. But the- 
"case is different with a possession of only a few 
"years' continuance, during which the party whose 
" rights are invaded may from prudential reasons 
" find it expedient to keep silence, without at the- 
" same time affording room to aceuse him of suffering 
"things to become uncertain, and of renewing quar- 
" rels without end." 

Wheaton, who wrote w century latter,, 
says : 

"The writers on natural law have questioned how 
"far that peculiar species of presumption arising 
" from the lapse of time, which is chUed prescription, 
"is justly applicable as between nation and nation; 
"but the constant and approved practice of nations 
"shows that by whatever name it be called, the un- 
" interrupted possession of territory or other property 
" for a certain length of time by one State excludes 
"the claim of every other, in the same manner as, 
" by the law of nature and the municipal code of 
"every civilized nation, a similar possession by an 
"individual excludes the claim of every other per- 
son to the article of property in question. This- 
"rule is founded upon the supposition, confirmed by 
" constant experience, that every person will 
"naturally seek t > enjoy that which belongs to him,, 
"and the inference fairly to be drawn from his 
<4 silence and neglect, of the original defect or his 
" intention to relinquish it." 

And Phillimore, the great English jurist 
who wrote still later, maintains substan- 
tially the same position. 

Prescription and usucaption have come 
to be almost synonymous terms. Accord- 
ing to Yattel, "prescription is the exclusion 
of all pretensions to a right — -an exclusion 
founded on the length, of time during which 
that right has been neglected." And 
usucaption, according to the same author,, 
is^the acquisition of domain founded on 



162 



a long possession, uninterrupted and undis- 
turbed — that is to say, an acquisition solely 
proved by this possession." Wolf defines 
usucaption as an " acquisition of domain 
founded on a presumed desertion" — that is, 
abandonment by a former owner; and this 
presumption of abandonment, he explains, 
is raised by a "long and peaceable possession 
by the actual occupant." The same author 
defines prescription as "the loss of an in- 
herent right by virtue of a presumed con- 
sent" — the presumption of consent being 
raised by long-continued, uninterrupted, 
and undisputed possession. According to 
the Roman law, usucaption is the acquisi- 
tion of domain by possession continued for 
a certain period of time prescribed by law — 
that is by municipal law, which has no 
place in international law further than it 
may have been adopted by general consent. 
Prescription, then, usually implies every- 
thing expressed by usucaption, in so far as 
the principle of prescription may be appli- 
cable to international affairs. Both are 
merely presumptive evidence of title, and 
are conclusive only when there is no pos- 
sibility of a stronger counter-presuniption 
or of stronger counter-proof. 

But, even according to its extremist ad- 
vocates, the application of the rules of 
prescription to international cases can be 
fully justified only on grounds of expedien- 
cy; as a matter of policy rather than of law 
or equity. The peace of society and the 
happiness of the human race require that 
the bona fide possessor, resting his title upon 
presumption, be not disturbed in his pos- 



163 



session ; and since no nation can safely dis- 
regard such a principle without thereby im- 
pugning its own title, all nations are pre- 
sumed to be parties to it. 

Such is the gist of the argument in favor 
of the application of prescription between 
nation and nation. But what kind of pre- 
scription? All writers who advocate its 
application between nation and nation fail 
to specify any exact limit of time within 
which title may be established by posses- 
sion. They even go so far as to say that 
to attempt such a specification, and to for- 
mulate it into a general rule, would be both 
impracticable and inexpedient. And this 
is about equivalent to saying that all or- 
dinary prescription — that is, prescription 
short of immemorial time — is practically 
excluded from international law. For if 
there is no precise limit of time short of im- 
memorial time that can give title, then only 
immemorial time can give title ; and im- 
memorial prescription can [hardly be said 
to be prescription at all. Because, where 
the origin of a possession cannot be known 
— where it has been public, continuous, 
peaceful, and uninterrupted from time out 
of mind — the right of recovery by an adverse 
claimant is, of course, necessarily beyond all 
possibility. The title of the^occupant is as 
though he had entered upon the lands 
res nullius, which, so far as can be affirmed 
to the contrary, actually may t have been the 
case. 

llv 



164 



„ In the case before us, 

Holland not an 

Original Diicov lt haS DeVer been ^ 
erer or Occupant. tended that Holland, 
through which England 
derived title, had many territorial rights in 
northern Guayana in virtue of original, 
authorized discovery. That much, we pre- 
sume, will be readily conceded. The Dutch 
were not only second comers, but the second 
of the second comers. The English, as we 
have seen, preceded them by three years ; Supra, Part II, 
and the Spaniards preceded both by nearly 
a hundred. Moreover, the Spaniards were 
there and in full possession about eighty 
years before the Dutch had even a de facto 
national existence ; for up to 1581 they had 
not declared their independence of the 
Crown of Spain. Up to that time they 
were Spanish subjects, and such title as then- 
explorations and commerce could give was 
the King of Spain's title. Furthermore, 
their declaration of independence, first 
made in 1581, implied no claim to any ter- 
ritory outside the Netherlands. It was at 
least forty years later, in 1621, when the 
first Dutch West India received its Charter, 
before they ever dreamed of such a claim. 

Nor were the Dutch the first occupants 
of any portion of the disputed territory. 
They were not the first occupants even of lb. Id. 
the Essequibo ; for the Spaniards had pre- 
ceded them there as actual occupants by at 
least thirty years. The very spot at the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni junction, which was the 
first possession of the Dutch West India 
Company, and which afterwards became the 

ucleus of the first Dutch settlement, in 



105 



Guayana, had been previously occupied by 
the Spaniards, who built a substantial stone 
fort there about 1591. 

Spain was not only the original discov- 
erer, but the first explorer of the whole of 
lb. Id. Part II. northern Guayana. She was the first to 
penetrate the interior; the first to estab- 
lish and maintain settlements and fortifica- 
tions there. It is a familiar fact of history 
that she discovered, took formal possession 
of, explored, subdued, and settled the 
northern part of South America as a whole • 
and as part of this work of exploration 
and settlement, she established and main- 
tained early in the sixteenth century, an 
organized local authority on the Orinoco, 
dependent upon the higher Colonial officials 
at the larger South American centers. 
Prior to 1620, before the Dutch West In- 
dia Company had come into existence, Spain 
had garrisoned settlements on the Orinoco 
which have never been discontinued ; settle- 
Id ments, as we have seen, which grew and 

expanded until, by the middle of the eight- 
eenth century, they had extended down to 
the alluvial and inhospitable swamps of 
the Orinoco delta, and in the interior to 
the very center of the great Basin of the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni. 

Spain the First Not only did Spain hold 
to Occupy, the inchoate title in virtue 
of first discovery ; not only did she have 
the exclusive right to occupy, but within "a 
reasonable time/' and indeed before others 
had come there, she supplemented that 
title by actual physical possession and per. 



160 



rnanent settlement: thus uniting all the 
three essential ingredients of perfect title — 
discovery, possession, and settlement. She 
possessed northern Guayana as a whole; 
possessed the present disputed territory as 
a whole ; possessed it in the same sense in 
which she possessed Xew Grnnada or 
Ecuador or Peru or Central America or 
Mexico as a whole. 

True, her towns and settlements were 
not contiguous in any of those countries. 
There were in all of them vast stretches of 
intervening territory inhabited only by 
native savages. Such districts exist eveu 
to-day. They exist in Venezuela. They 
exist in Colombia and Peru. They exist 
even in the United States of North Amer- 
ica. And in some of those countries the 
savage occupants continued to assail and 
murder the white settlers up to the begin- 
ning of the present century ; just as they did 
in the United States up to a time within the 
memory of the present generation, and as they 
do still in some other countries. But it will 
hardly be contended, in view of the settled 
rulesof international lawandof the universal 
practice of nations, prevailing then as now, 
that such a condition of affairs militates 
against the title to the country as a whole. 
It will hardly be contended at this late 
dav that the title of the occupant nation is 
limited to the particular spots settled by it : 
that its right of domain is confined to its 
actual towns and villages, leaving the in- 
tervening stretches of country res mrflius 
and open to acquisition by other nations by 
mere occupation, or by treaties or pre- 



167 



tended treaties with the savage occupants, 
who are incapable of making title. 

It is a familiar maxim 
Attributive c , , , , 

or the law, no less than 
Possession. , „ . , 

a sell-evident proposi- 
tion, that what is possessed as a whole, is 
possessed in every part ; and by a cognate 
principle, the establishment and mainte- 
nance of a permanent and growing settle- 
ment by the discovering nation or its legal 
successor may, and usually does, constitute 
attributive possession of the adjacent vacant 
territory. In the same manner, the culti- 
vation of a part of a well defined tract in 
the name of the whole, if it has no other 
actual occupant, is deemed in law to be pos- 
session of the whole. Even the advocates 
of the British claim invoke this principle, 
but strangely misapply it. For we read in 
the British Blue Book, "Venezuela, No. 3 
(1896)/' page 1, that, 

"The territory which belongs to a nation in a 
country sparsely populated is not confined to- 
" the spots or areas which have themselves been 
"the subject of occupation. It is well established 
"by the law of nations that the extent of the 
"territory to which a nation can justly lay claim 
" depends upon a number of considerations. Re- 
" gard must be had to physical features of the 
" country itself, and to the question whether the 
" situation and character of the areas occupied 
" would enable the nation to which the occupants 
"belong to control the adjoining district, and to 
"prevent, if necessary, hostile aggression." 

This is good law; the principle is too 
well settled to be a matter of controversy ; 
but it does not fit the British case. For 
whilst the principle of contiguity or at- 
tributive possession is applicable to the 



168 



first discoverer and occupant of terra* nul- 
Uus, it cannot apply to second comers or dis- 
seizors. The Dutch, as we have seen, came 
to Guayaua not as original discoverers and 
occupants, but as disseizors; and as dis- 
seizors, their title, except in so far as it may 
have been confirmed by subsequent deed or 
treaty, is a title by prescription only, and its 
territorial extent must be judged by the 
rules which apply to prescription. And 
even if those rules were sufficiently elastic 
to be made to comprehend any adjacent, 
unoccupied territory that might be deemed 
essential to the reasonable expansion of a 
•disseizor's settlement (which is not the 
case) they would still be iatal to the British 
•claim. For while the Delta region of the 
Orinoco, and the great Interior Basin of 
the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, are both indispen- 
sable to the convenience and safety of the 
Spanish (now Venezuelan) settlements on 
the Orinoco, neither of those tracts is essen- 
tial either to the convenience or safety, 
much less to the reasonable expansion, of 
the Dutch (now English) settlements on the 
Essequibo. 

But, quite independent of these con- 
siderations, is the fact that tor more than 
half a century prior to 1811 (when Ven- 
ezuela succeeded to title) Spain, reaching 
out from her actual settlements in Guayana, 
exercised effective political control over 
these intermediate, uninhabited districts. 
We say ''political" control, because Spain, 
as we have seen, effectively excluded the 
Dutch and all others therefrom, under 



169 



open assertion of dominion and sovereignty; 
and in this public assertion, the Dutch 
and all others acquiesced for more than 
half a century prior to 1811. 

Nature of the Dutch- The only title that 
English Title. Holland ever had to 

any territory in Guayana rests, as we have 
said, either upon a specific cession by 
treaty, made by Spain as the original pro- 
prietor ; or (in so far as not conveyed by 
that treaty) it rests upon prescription only. 
The facts already cited in the preceding 
pages are too familiar to need repetition 
in detail. We here indicate only a few: 

Some time between the years 1621 and 
1626 the Dutch, then engaged in a war 
with Spain for their independence of its 
Crown, took military possession of the 
lower Essequibo river. At the Cuyuui- 
Mazaruni junction, some eight miles west 
of the Essequibo, less than fifty from the 
coast, and still below the tide-water re- 
gion, they found and occupied an old 
Spanish fort, changing its name from El 
Burgo to Kyk-over-al. This became the 
nucleus of their first settlement in Guay- 
ana. But for fully a quarter of a century 
afterwards it remained a mere trading-post 
of the Dutch West India Company, inhab- 
ited only by a dozen or so unmarried em- 
ployes of that Company. In 1648, when 
peace was made, this military occupancy 
(for it was nothing more) was confirmed to 
the Dutch by Spain. That made the Dutch 
title good as far as it went ; but in the very 
nature of the case, it could not have ex- 



170 



tended beyond the places actually and 
physically occupied. It could not have 
embraced vast stretches of outlying and 
uninhabited territory which were in no 
way essential either to the convenience or 
safety, or even to the reasonable expansion, 
of this Dutch settlement. And such, in- 
deed, was, as has been already pointed out, 
the nature and extent of the cession by Supra, p. 73. 
the very terms of the treaty itself. 

In the course of time this Dutch settle- 
ment extended down the western estuary 
of the Essequibo to the coast, and thence 
along the coast to the Pumaron ; but never 
on the coast westward beyond the Moroco, 
and never in the interior beyond the outer 
rim of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni Basin. In 
other words, it never extended beyond the 
natural line of demarcation, already de- 
scribed, beginning on the coast at the Supra, pp. 150-154. 
mouth of the Moroco, running thence up 
that river and along the water-parting to 
the lower Cataracts of the Cuyuni-Maz- 
aruni, and so along the eastern slopes of 
the great Interior Basin to the upper Esse- 
quibo. Here all settlement stopped, at 
once and forever. And this fact, coupled 
with the topography of the country which 
caused it, and which was recognized as 
causing it, has two important results, 
namely: 

1. It makes it impossible to contend 
that occupation or control of either of the 
two adjacent tracts west of the line of 
natural demarcation is essential to the con- 
venience or safety of the Dutch settlements 
on the Essequibo, or even necessary to 



171 



their possible natural expansion ; for the 
claim is that these settlements have existed 
for fully two centuries, and have grown 
from nothing to over two hundred and fifty 
thousand souls. And, 

2. It demonstrates a natural line of di- 
vision between the two jurisdictions ; and 
the natural features of this line are such 
as not only to prevent the spread of settle- 
ment beyond it, but to seriously hinder 
the easy intercourse of the settlers on the 
opposite sides of it. We have already seen 
how, in the process of time, and by the 
habits of the settlers, this natural divi- 

Supra, Part in. sionai line became the de facto line, and 
pp. 150-lo4. m J 7 

how it remained so for about seventy-two 

years. And while natural barriers cannot, 
in a question of strict legal right, over- 
come facts of actual and permanent settle- 
ment, or of exclusive political control, they 
nevertheless facilitate the search for some 
de jure boundary which should accord 
with these stronger considerations. 

As has been pointed out al- 
T he Cession ■ \ .. 

1648 reac v> the cession made by 
Spain to Holland, in articles 
V. and VI., of the treaty of Miinster, wa& 
reasonably specific. It comprehended only 
such places in northern Guayana as the- 
Dutch then actually occupied, and also 
such places in Brazil as were then actually 
held by the "Portuguese. Even under 
the most latitudinal construction, it could 
have embraced only such adjacent unoccu- 
pied territory as might be deemed necessary 
to the convenience and safety of the Esse- 
quibo settlement, which then numbered 



172 



less thau fifty souls. By no known rules 
■of legal interpretation, then or since pre- 
vailing, could it have comprehended re- 
mote and inaccessible tracts of unoccupied 
territory, effectually separated from that 
settlement by natural demarcations, and in 
no sense essential either to its convenience 
or safety, or even to its reasonable expan- 
sion. 

The cession could not, therefore, have 
included any part of the great Interior 
Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni. Nor could 
it possibly have embraced, or have been 
intended to embrace, any portion of the 
Orinoco delta region, separated as it is from 
the Essequibo delta region by natural de- 
marcations ; a region necessary to the 
convenience and safety of the Spanish 
settlements on the Orinoco, but in no sense 
essential to the convenience or safety of the 
Dutch settlement on the Essequibo. Spain 
then hel<3> in a legal sense at least, if not 
by actual occupation, the entire Northwest 
Coast Region between the Moroco and the 
great nuuth of the Orinoco; and she held 
by actual occupation, a considerable por- 
tion of the great Interior Basin of the 
Cuyuni-Mazaruni, and held it securely as a 
whole by holding the only available ap- 
proaches to it. At that time, and indeed 
for more than a century afterwards, the 
Orinoco river was the only means of com- Archivo de las In- 

munication between the Spanish settlements J es (Span -Venez. 

x Docs.), Vol. L, pp. 

in the remote interior and those on the 84—96, 100—124. 

coast. To suppose that Spain would im- 
peril the very existence of her interior 
settlements by ceding to a foreign power, 



173 



*even indirectly and conditionally, the only 
available approaches to them from the 
coast, is unthinkable. 

Moreover, to assume, as the British con- 
struction does, that the cession of 1648 
was practically unlimited as respects un- 
occupied territory in northern Guayana, in- 
volves the grossest absurdity. Not only 
would it restrict Spain, the original pro- 
prietor, to the particular spots actually 
settled by her subjects; not only would it 
give to a possible enemy the means of effec- 
tually cutting off those settlements from all 
communication with the coast; but it would 
imply a complete abdication of all right of 
eminent domain acquired in virtue of origi- 
nal discovery and first possession, and which 
had been held consecutively for about one 
hundred and forty years. It would be as if 
Spain had said to Holland, "I hereby re- 
nounce to you, without any compensation^ 
my right of domain to all unoccupied terri- 
tory in northern Guayanaand on the coasts 
of South America. Henceforth you are to 
have a free hand to 'conquer and possess' 
not only such places 'in Brazil' as may be 
held by my enemies, the Portuguese ; but 
you are likewise licensed to 'conquer and 
possess' any lands in South America not ac- 
tually occupied by my loyal subjects." 

That His Catholic Majesty intended to 
make any such wholesale renunciation of 
his right of domain as this, is simply in- 
conceivable. It would have been in irre- 
concilable conflict with the declared object 
of the treaty itself, which was a lasting 
( peace between the contracting parties ; and 



174 



it would have been, besides, a deliberate 
abandonment of a right of domain which 
had been most jealously guarded and effect- 
ively maintained since the first discovery 
of the country. And yet this is precisely Blue Book, Venez, 
what is involved in the British construction (1896), p. . 
of articles Y. and VI. ot the treaty of 
Miinster ! 

It is furthermore con- 
T/je Dutch Claim _ 
tended, bv the advocates oi 
by Prescription. . . 

the present British claim, 

that in any event, and whether in violation 
of the treaty of Miinster or not, the Dutch 
did, as a matter of fact, extend their occu- 
pation in northern Guayana beyond the 
limits of their actual holdings in 1648 ; and 
that these additional possessions were held 
by the Dutch for a sufficient length of time 
to make good title by prescription. 

But without stopping here to consider 
whether the prescription thus invoked was 
or was not in conformity with those well 
settled and familiar rules of international 
law only under which the principle itself is 
admissible, it is sufficient to again point out 
that, as a matter of fact, the Dutch never 
extended their occupation into more than 
one hundredth part of the territory now 
claimed by England. They never went be- 
yond the western limits of the Essequibo-Pu- Supra, Part III~ 
maron Region. Every time they attempted 
to overpass the natural divisional line be- 
tween that region and those of the North- 
west Coast and the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, they 
were met and driven back by the Spaniards. 
In other words, beyond Moroco river — 



175 



whence all westward is essentially Orinoco 
delta, and all eastward is essentially Esse- 
quibo delta — the Dutch never bad a settle- 
ment, never made a colonial grant of lands, 
and never so much as maintained an out- 
lier's lodge or a trading-station. They 
never even tried to plant a settlement 
in the interior Basin of the Cuyuni-Maza- 
ruui; and when they attempted its invasion 
for the purpose of establishing outlier's 
lodges and slave trading stations, they were 
driven out and kept out by the Spaniards, 
who asserted and maintained jurisdiction 
there. 

Or, to state case differently (and as has 
been abundantly proved), Dutch occupa- 
tion, whether actual or attributive, never 
went beyond the de facto line already more 
#w/?ra, Part III., pp. than once described. That line, as we have 
150, lo , lo3, 154. seen ^ had a tacitly acknowledged and unin- 
terrupted existence for at least a whole gen- 
eration prior to the military occupations of 
the Dutch Colonies by the English in 1796 
and 1803 ; and it had an uninterrupted ex- 
istence for about half a century prior to the 
formal cession of those colonies to England 
by Holland in 1814, and for nearly three 
quarters of a century before the Schom- 
burgk agitation in 1840-41. East of that 
line, Spain and Venezuela had consistently 
claimed the Essequibo river as the de jure 
boundary ; but the Moroco was the recog- 
nized de facto boundary, west of which 
Spain and Venezuela had never lost exclu- 
sive political control. 



176 



The English Claim 
by Prescription. 



Doubtless aware of 
these facts,. England 
now seeks, or is under- 



stood as seeking, to justify her extravagant 
claim by invoking another species of pre- 
scription. The claim now is, as we under- 
stand it, that England, which never had 
any title other than what she derived from 
Holland in 181-1, has likewise, since then, 
extended her possessions west of the old 
de facto line; and that she has held these 
long enough to acquire good title by pre- 
scription. This pretension involves two 
questions, one of faet, and one of laic. 

With regard to the first, it has been 
shown, again and again, that up to 
1836-40, the English made no attempt to 
cross the de faeto line ; nor had the British 
Government, up to that time, ever formu- 
lated, or even intimated, any claim to terri- 
tory beyond it. Even after the first dis- 
turbance of that line by the ill-advised 
Schomburgk agitation, in 1840-41, the 
status quo ante was impliedly if not spe- 
cifically restored by the Diplomatic Agree- 
ment of 1850'. Nor was the de factb line 
again disturbed, even indirectly or con- 
structively, till about 1866-67, when "the 
gold fever " broke out in what is now the 
disputed territory. It was not actually dis- 
turbed, however, till 1884-85, when Eng- 
land, without prior notice or warning, took 
violent possession of the Northwest Coast 
Region, and established armed police sta- 
tions in the Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni. And even after this,. in June, 
1887, official notice was given out that Her 



177 



Majesty's Government would not undertake- 
to guarantee protection or compensation to 
British miners and settlers in those locali- 
^ ^ ties, in case the boundary question should 
Vol. II., pp. 665- be decided ultimately in favor of Venez- 
uela; thereby clearly betraying a conscious- 
ness of want of title, and of the invalidity 
of any subsequent claim to title based on* 
such occupation. 

In the second place the possession thus 
claimed lacks all the legal requisites of pre- 
scription. It was violent in origin, which 
is fatal to any claim to title by prescrip- 
tion. It involved, besides, a violation of 
the compact of 1850, by which the status 
quo ante had been restored. Nor is it anv 
justification to allege that Venezuela had 
been the first to violate that compact by 
granting mining concessions in portions of 
the disputed territory ; because it nowhere 
appears that remonstrance had been made 
or satisfaction asked by England. So that 
even if the allegation be true (which is de- 
nied), the seizure and occupation of ter- 
ritory in consequence would be an act of 
reprisal, and must be governed by the rules 
of international law applicable to reprisals. 
Furthermore, the possession thus claimed 
was never at any time peaceable and unin- 
terrupted. For a possession cannot be said' 
to be peaceable and uninterrupted which 
provokes continuous protest and remon- 
strance by a former owner or claimant ; and 
from the day in which the British took 
possession, Venezuela never ceased to re- 
. monstrate and to protest before the civilized 
world. And when these protests and re- 



178 



monstrances were found to be unavailing, 
she did not hesitate to break diplomatic re- 
lations with the British government. Final- 
ly, and quite independent of all these con- 
siderations — any one of which alone would 
be fatal to the claim by prescription — the 
occupation began in 1884-5, or say less 
than fourteen years ago ; a period of time 
too short by thirty-six years to give title by Infra, pp. 179, 180- 
prescription, even under Rule "a" of the 
present Treaty of Arbitration. 

But aside from all these considerations, 
England's claim is inadmissible on grounds 
of public policy alone. It would, if al- 
lowed, be a precedent for the substitution 
of might for right. It would practically 
unsettle title to nearly a quarter of the 
American continent. It would not only 
nullify the Declaration of 1823, to which 
England herself became a party; but it 
would practically invalidate the Treaty of 
1846, between England and the United 
States, by which the Oregon question was 
settled on the basis that no power was free 
to obtain fresh possessions on the American 
continent by occupation. 

Moreover, the admission of such a claim 
as England now makes to territory in Ven- 
ezuela, would become the source of never- 
ending dispute and litigation— thus ignor- 
ing the only really good reason ever alleged 
in favor of the application of the principle of 
prescription between nations as between 
individuals. 



179 



By article IV. of the 
Rules of Pre- Treaty of February 2d, 

script ion in 1 on _ " , ... 

the Arbitra- 1897 > Under whlch we are 

tion Treaty. proceeding, the arbitra- 
tors are to ascertain all 
the facts in the case which they may deem 
necessary to a decision ; and, in making up 
that decision, they are to be governed by 
certain rules which have been agreed upon 
by the high contracting parties as appli- 
cable to the case. 1 

The first of these rules (designated in 
the Treaty as Rule "a") is as follows: 

" (a) Adverse holding or prescription during a 
period of fifty years shall make a good title. The 
" arbitrators may deem exclusive political control of 
" a district as well as actual settlement thereof suffi- 
" cient to constitute adverse holding, or to make 
"title by prescription." 

This is a rule of prescription differing 
from precedent only in that it fixes an ex- 
act period of time within which title may 
be acquired by occupation. " Adverse 
holding or prescription during a period of 
fifty years shall make good title." The 
clause is mandatory, and the arbitrators 
have no discretion other than to obey its 
behest. But what shall be deemed an 
"adverse holding"? That is left entirely 
with the arbitrators to determine. The 
only point predetermined is the length of 
time necessary to constitute prescription ; 
and that, of course, does not exclude the 
application of the rules of law pertinent 
to cases of prescription in general If 
the possession was not peaceable in ori- 

1 A full text of the Treaty, in the English and Spanish 
languages, will be found in the Appendix. 
127 



180 



gin; if it was not bona fide in origin ; 
if it was not in the name or by authority 
of the State ; if it has not been public and 
uninterrupted ; and if it has not been ex- 
clusive, then it lacks all the fundamental 
requisites of prescription, and the fifty 
years limit agreed upon cannot cure these 
defects. 

The second sentence of the rule seems 
to have been introduced for the purpose of 
greater clearness and caution. An actual 
nd ti cma d ) continuously maintained by one 
nation and permanently excludiugall others, 
is, of course, a "holding" "adverse" to all 
others. But there are other conditions to 
be considered. As, for instance, where a 
nation holds or aims to hold a large 
tract, covering only particular spots or 
districts with habitations, but reaching out 
from those immediate settlements, controls 
adjacent territory, inhabited only by sav- 
ages, and excludes therefrom all others; 
in such a case, the occupant nation may be 
said to be in possession of the tract as a 
whole. And this possession is something 
more than att rib (dive. For attributive 
possession is where the occupation of a part 
constitutes legal possession of a larger 
whole: whereas, actual " political control" 
is manifested by unequivocal acts of do- 
minion and sovereignty, performed on the 
territory itself. 

Heuce it is provided, by the second 
sentence in rule "a," that the arbitrators 
"may" deem exclusive political control of 
a district for an unbroken period of fifty 
years, as well as actual settlement for that 



181 



period, sufficient to constitute an "adverse 
holding" and to make good title by pre- 
scription . In other words, the first sen- 
tence relates to actual settlements only ; if 
these shall be found to have existed con- 
tinuously for fifty years prior to the date 
of the Treaty, that fact "shall" make good 
title. The second sentence relates to "exclu- 
sive " political control only ; if that shall 
be found to have been of fifty years dura- 
tion, and of such a character as to consti- 
tute, in law, occupation or dominion, 
subjecting al] others to the power of the 
controlling nation when they enter the 
territory, then the arbitrators may deem it 
an "adverse holding" sufficient to consti- 
tute good title. 

But the whole scheme of the Treaty, as 
set forth in Articles III. and IV., mani- 
festly is that the boundary line shall be de- 
termined as of right rather than as of mere 
expediency. It is to be determined in ac- 
cordance with the rules and principles of 
international law applicable to the case. 
What these rules and principles are, and 
how they shall be applied to this particu- 
lar case, are matters for the arbitrators to 
determine. But the nature and applica- 
tion of these rules and principles must not 
be in contravention of the specific agree- 
ment expressed by the rule "a" of the 
Treaty. Hence the second rule (marked 
rule "6" in the Treaty), which is as 
follows : 

" (b) The arbitrators may recognize and give effect 
" to rights and claims resting on anyjother ground 
" whatever valid according to international law and 



182 



" on any principles of international law which the 
"arbitrators may deem to be applicable to the case 
"and which are not in contravention of the fore- 
" going rule." 

This is but the complement of rule "a" 
as that is, in some sense, the complement 
of this. The occupation by actual settle- 
ment, or by actual political control, in order 
to be valid for purposes of title, must be 
in accordance with the rules and principles 
of international law; and these rules and 
principles, \o order to be applicable to this 
particular case, must be accommodated to 
the fifty years limitation. So that, in their 
last analysis, and when construed together, 
the two rules agreed upon merely define 
what was hitherto undefined in the body of 
public international law, namely, the ex- 
act period of time within which title may 
be acquired by prescription. 

But there are also pri- 
Pn i r ny%ved. reStS vate interests involved; 

and these are provided for 
in the third and final rule (marked rule 
"e" in the Treaty), which is as follows : 

" (c) In determining the boundary line, if territory 
" of one party be found by the tribunal to have been 
" at the date of this treaty in the occupation of the 
" subjects or citizens of the other party, such effect 
" shall be given to such occupation as reason, justice, 
" the principles of international law and the equiti es 
" of the case shall, in the opinion of the tribunal, 
" require." 

This bears no relation whatever to either 
of the two preceding rules. It stands 
quite alone, and relates only to the consid- 
eration that shall be given to private in- 
terests. Within the last thirteen or four- 
teen years, British subjects have over-passed 



183 



the old de facto line which had been recog- 

Supra, Part III., nized by the Dutch and Spanish since 
pp. 150 et seq. about m8? and by the EDgli g h and y ene . 

zuelans up to about 1840, and entered what 
is now the disputed territory under mining 
licenses granted by the British colonial 
authorities. The time has been too short 
to give them any right by mere occupation, 
even if all the other requisites of prescrip- 
tion were not wholly wanting. Nor could 
such acts come within the scope of that 
familiar rule of law which sometimes 
makes valid and binding on the country 
all necessary administrative acts performed 
by the power in possession ; for the acts 
here to be considered were done when the 
boundary dispute was at its acutest stage, 
and when the remonstrances and protests 
by Venezuela were frequent, vigorous and 
public. 

Moreover, the grants themselves were 
in the nature of a gratuity, and were prac- 
tically revoked in June, 1887. For official 
notice was then given, as we have seen, 
that all such grants were to be accepted 
subject to the possibility that, in the final 
settlement of the boundary question, the 
lands to which the grants applied should 
Docs. Wash'n Com., be adjudged part of the Venezuelan terri- 
II., pp. 691, 692. tory ; in which case, no claim or compensa- 
tion against the Colony or against Her 
Majesty's Government would be recognized. 
The so-called "Schomburgk line" was 
proclaimed, for the first time, as an ex parte 
boundary in October, 1886. It is manifest, 
then, that the equity of any British claim 



184 



must have accrued within the eight months 
between October, 1886, and June, 1887. 
But this equity is provided for in rule 
u c." If, in determining the boundary line, 
the arbitrators find it to be such as to leave 
these interests of British subjects on the 
Venezuelan side, such treatment is to be 
accorded to them as may be just and fair in 
view of the circumstances of the case ; and 
the arbitrators themselves are to pronounce 
exactly what this shall be. 

Analysis of the l n order, then, to sup- 
British Claim ' . ' F 

by Prescription . port her claims under 

rules "a" and "b " of the Treaty, England 
must show : 

1. That the Dutch, through whom she 
derived title, either had established settle- 
ments 1 in the disputed territory prior to 
1746, which were continuously mantained 
till 1796, when the English took military 
possession ; or, 

2. That the Dutch government exercised 
exclusive and uninterrupted political con- 
trol over uninhabited districts there during 
the period from 1746 to 1796. 

Or if England would establish her title 
to any territory there claimed in virtue of 
her own subsequent occupations, then she 
must prove either, 

1. That actual British settlements were 

1 "Settlement," according to Vattel, "is a fixed residence 
in any place, with an intention of always stayin? there." The 
mere fact of establishing a residence in any place, without 
intention, sufficiently made known, either tacitly or by ex- 
press declaration, does not constitute "settlement" in a legal 
sense. Without this intention, in some way unmistakably 
manifested, the stay, though it be for a long time, is merely a 
habitation having none of the legal consequences of bona 
fide settlement. 



Vattel, Law of Na- 
tions, Book I., 
C. XIX., §218. 



185 



established there prior to 1847, and were 
continuously maintained up to 1897, the 
date of the present Treaty ; or, 

2. That the British government exer- 
cised exclusive and uninterrupted political 
control over uninhabited dtstricts there 
from 1847 to 1897. 

Now it appears, as a fact quite beyond 
dispute, from the relation of the acts of 
the parties already made in the preceding 
Supra, Part III., pages, that the Dutch never had an estab- 
148 1 ?50-f54 189 " li sne d settlement either in the coast region 
west of the Moroco or in the Interior Ba- 
sin region of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni. 

It appears also that, with respect to the 
Northtvest Coast Region, the Dutch never 
had so much as an outpost or trading-sta- 
tion there west of the Moroco ; and that in 
1768, when some Dutch colonists from Esse- 
quibo, in defianceof the prohibition by their 
own authorities, attempted to settle west ot 
that river, they were promptly driven out by 
the Spanish Colonial authorities under as- 
sertion of domain and jurisdiction; that 
this was done without a semblance of pro- 
test by the Dutch authorities ; and that 
never afterwards did a Dutchman appear 
there even in the capacity of a trader. It 
appears furthermore, that the Dutch never 
made even a " paper grant " of colonial 
lands anywhere on the coast west of the 
Moroco; that the only use they ever made 
or attempted to make of any of the rivers 
and estuaries west of the Moroco, was that 
of fishery; that the only use they ever at- 
tempted to make of the margins of those 



lb. Id. 



186 



rivers and estuaries was that of cutting 
timber for export to a foreign market, or 
for use in the Colony of Essequibo; and that 
even these privileges, which might have 
been enjoyed without involving a question 
of title to the soil, were soon denied to 
them by the Spanish Colonial authorities, 
who, by direction of the Home Government, 
and under unequivocal assertion of sover- 
eignty and jurisdiction, drove out the in- 
truders and continuously maintained domin- 
ion and jurisdiction there from about the 
year 1768 onwards. These facts are clearly 
established by the Dutch official records 
already passed in review, aud which are 
now before the arbitrators. 

We may, therefore, dismiss from mind, 
at once and forever, any and all claim to 
that region set up by England in virtue of 
alleged occupation or political control by the 
Dutch during the period of fifty years from 
1746 to 1796. 

With respect to the Interior Basin region 
of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, it has been conclu- 
sively shown that the only foundation for 

the claim to Dutch occupation is the futile Supra, Part III., 
j r , . pp. 95-97, 98-111. 

attempts made on three several occasions 

between the years 1703 and 1769 to estab- 
lish commercial outposts and slave-trading 
stations there. In each of these the 
Dutch were defeated by the Spaniards, who, 
under assertion of dominion and juris- 
diction, expelled them, finally and forever, 
between the years 1758 and 1769. In this 
instance the Dutch government remon- 
strated under assertion of adverse title. 



187 



But the remonstrance was treated first with 
defiance and then with contempt ; and the 
Dutch acquiesced, thus leaving the Spaniards 
ever afterwards in possession or in exclu- 
sive political control. 

Hence the British claim to any portions 
of that tract or region, if based only upon 
alleged uninterrupted occupation, or upon 
alleged exclusive political control, by the 
Dutch prior to 1796, must be dismissed 
under the rules "a" and "b" of the pres- 
ent Treaty. 

It will hardly be contended, we pre- 
sume, that England could have acquired 
legal title to any portion of the Dutch 
Colony of Essequibo by her temporary 
and intermittent military occupations of 
it between the years 1781 and 1803. 1 
Her title was one by transfer, made in the 
Treaty of August, 1814. Prior to that, she 
had never been anything more than a 
belligerent occupant, and as such could 
neither have extended nor contracted the 
boundary. Nor could Holland have ceded 
any territory that she had not uninterrupt- 
edly occupied or exclusively controlled for 
a peried of fifty years next preceding the 
date of that Treaty. Whatever prescrip- 
tion, therefore, that England mayclaim,must 
have began to run subsequent to 1814. 

But the fact is, as abundantly attested by 
both English and Venezuelan documents, 
that during the 26 years from 1814 to 1840, 

1 In each particular instance the right of post liminum re- 
mained with Holland, and was so recognized by England. 
The territory taken was afterwards restored to its owner; and 
by the law of nations it had to be, and in fact was, restored 
in its prestine condition — that is, without change of boundary. 



Vattel, Law of Na- 
tions, III., C. 
XIY. 



188 



England made no attempt at occupation or 
political control west of the Moroco, nor 
in the Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni. The status quo as it had existed 
between Spain and Holland from about 
1768 onwards, was maintained ; thus giving 
the old de facto line an uninterrupted ex- 
istence of 72 years. Any claim, therefore, 
which England may now have to territory 
beyond that line, predicated upon pre- 
scription, must have originated since 1840. 

Xor could it have originated even 
then ; for the Schomburgk agitation of 
1840-41 ended, as we have seen, in the § upra p ar t m 
truce of 1850, whereby the status quo ante 
was restored. The only result of the Schom- 
burgk agitation was an enlarged claim, not 
an extended occupation or political control- 
In proof of this, we have the assurances of 
England herself, officially made through her 
diplomatic representative at Caracas in 
1850, that she neither had then occupied, 
nor intended to occupy in the future, any 
portion of the territory covered by this new 
claim. Any occupation or political control, 
therefore, which she may now have there, 
not only must have been in violation of 
that pledge (since it was never revoked 
till 1886); but, what is more to the pur- 
pose, must have originated subsequent to 
1850, or say less than 48 years ago, and 
this, of course, is fatal to her claim under 
rule "a" of the Treaty. 

It has been officially 
As to" Protectorates" . . , . . - 

M . „ intimated, 11 indeed 

of Indians. 

the pretence has not 
been formally and authoritatively pro- 



189 



Br Blue Book, claimed, that exclusive political control was 
No. 1 (1896), pp. I . . 1 

24, 25. established and maintained over certain un- 

/6 pp d 4 N l°4 3 l5 18 l 9 6 6) ' innabite(i districts, in what is now the dis- 
puted territory, by the alleged fact of the 
establishment and maintenance there of 
"Protectorates" of Indians, first by the 
Dutch and afterwards by the English. 

It is difficult to believe that any claim to 
sovereignty having no better origin than 
this should ever have been seriously made; 
or, if ever seriously made, that it should 
now be relied upon to establish British 
title under rules "a" and "b" of the 
present Treaty. A Protectorate implies 

Statehood — sovereignty in the protected as 
Vattel, Law of Na- . . . « T . 

tions, B. I., well as in the protecting State. Itisestab- 

C. XVI., §192. lished when protection is procured by en- 
gaging to perform certain service, or to pay 
certain tribute for the service performed. 
In either case there is an act of sovereignty; 
in neither is there a derogation of sover- 
eignty. The compact differs from ordinary 
treaties between sovereigns in so far only as 
it creates a difference in the dignity of the 
contracting parties. 

Protectorates by treaty, therefore, can 
exist only as between organized bodies 
politic, called States or Nations. They can- 
not exist where one of the parties is merely 
a tribe of nomadic savages; because they 
have no organized body politic, and the 
land over which they roam is res nullius 
until taken into possession by some civilized 



190 



State or nation. : Protectorates by treaty 
may indeed exist where one of the parties 
is semi-civilized, as in some parts of Asia; 
but only because they are already State?, 
and the territory is not open to occupation. 

Now, it is a well established principle 
that the aborigines of America have no 
sovereignty : their contracts can convey 
none. At no time since the discovery of 
the New World by Columbus have they 
been treated as independent States or na- 
tions. International law knows nothing 
of them as organized political communities 
or societies. Their presence in a territory 
does not prevent, or in any way affect, the 
acquisition of domain by a civilized nation. 
The land on which they live is, as between 
civilized nations, vacant land. They can- 
not convey so much as their right of 
occupancy without the sanction of the sov- 
ereign power, which in the present case 
was Spain or Venezuela. Any deed or 
treaty to that effect made by them with 
another power, is null and void ab initio ; 
and any attempt by another power to in- 
trude into the territory occupied by them, 
would be considered an aggression which 
would justify war. These are principles 
too fundamental in character, too firmly 
established in the law of nations, and too 
universally recognized in the practice of 
nations to be matters of discussion. 



1 Which, in the present case was Spain, who had been in 
actual possession, as we have seen, since 176S: and in legal pos- 
session for more than a century and a half before that. It 
was within her domain: and the dominion of a nation compre- 
hends her ancient and original possessions. And by the term 
" possessions ' ; we are to understand not only her territories, 
bat all rights she enjoys. 



Vattel. Law of Na- 
tions, I., C. VII.. 
§81. 

Phillimore, Law of 

Nations, 5258. 
Twiss, C.VIII. 
Calvo, Le Droit Int., 

§281. 

Despagnet. Essaisur 
les Protectorate. 

5 Peters, 1.. p. 18. 

6 Wheaton. pp. 543, 
573. 

6 Cranch, 87. 142. 
Pari. Paps. il845>, 

Vol. 33. 
lb. (1844) Vol. 13. 



Vattel. Law of Na- 
tions. B. II., Ch. 
VII., §80. 



191 



But even if this were not the case, even 
if the reverse were true, the acts of the par- 
ties themselves, as alleged, and the facts as 
proven, show that neither Holland nor 
England ever had a Protectorate of Indians 
in the disputed territory. Not even so 
much as the form of a treaty has ever been 
produced, nor is there any circumstantial 
evidence showing a probability that one 
ever existed. 

Let us briefly recur to the facts. In the 
seventeenth century, when the sugar in- 
dustry began to be profitable, the Dutch 
were in great need of slave labor. They 
wanted Indian slaves, and they wanted to 
prevent the escape of fugitive negro slaves 
to the wilderness. For this purpose they 
employed the Carib Indians to kidnap and 
bring into the Colony Indians of the more 
docile tribes — sometimes from the frontier 
Spanish Missions, sometimes from the in- 
termediate country, but always beyond the 
region adjacent to the Dutch settlements — 
and for these the Dutch would pay them 
so much per head on delivery ; and they 
also paid them so much a head for every 
runaway negro slave whom they brought 
back alive, and so much for the right 
hand of every runaway negro they killed. 
On several occasions these and other tribes 
inhabiting the wilderness between the 
Dutch and Spanish settlements were em- 
ployed against the "bush" negroes 1 in 

1 Runaway negro slaves, who had banded themselves to- 
gether in the dense forests, near the frontiers of the Dutch 
settlement. They became at one time a terror to the planters 
on the coast east of the Essequibo. 



192 



times of slave insurrections, and were paid 
for their services in trinkets and rum. 

When the slave trade ceased, the Dutch 
(and afterwards the English) sought to con- 
ciliate these tribes, and to keep them from 
raiding the feeble Essequibo settlements, 
by periodical presents to the chiefs and 
their followers. But it is of record that 
both the Dutch and English officials de- 
clared, again and again, that this was a 
tribute " under the name of presents" to 
buy peace of the savages, of whose strength 
and ferocity the Colony was in constant 
dread. 

In point of fact, then, so far from being 
the tC protectors " of these Indians, the 
Indians were the hired protectors of the 
Dutch. Neither the Dutch nor English 
ever exercised any authority over these 
Indians except within the jurisdiction of 
the actual white settlements ; and this, of 
course, was the case with respect to all 
foreigners, whether white or colored. 

These relations between the whites 
and Indians had not changed as late as 
May, 1831. At that date, on the occasion 
of a trial by the British Colonial authori- 
ties of an Indian for murder, the question 
of jurisdiction was raised. It appears 
from the sworn testimony that there were Br. Blue Book, No. 
then no white settlers above the lower Ul S ^h A PP- PP- 
falls of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, and only 
two or three between those falls and the 
junction of the two rivers; that Indians 
also lived between these falls and the 
junction, and likewise farther down on the 
banks and creeks of the lower Essequibo ; 



193 



and that the murder took place within 
this region, that is to say, east of the outer 
rim of the Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni. 

The court accordingly decided that it 
had jurisdiction. The accused was tried 
and convicted, but pardoned at the request 
Blue Book (1896), °f the judge and the Governor. The mass 
1 172 1 173 17 °' °^ sworn tes ti m ony at the trial, as repro- 
duced in the Blue Book, disclosed the fol- 
lowing facts : 

1. That, up till then (1831) the English 
had no settlements, no missionary stations, 
nor any outposts of any kind above the 
first or lower falls in the Cuyuni river, nor 
on the coast beyond the Moroco ; in other 

Supra, Part III., words, that the old de facto line of 1769-70 
p ' 154, was still recognized by the British Colonial 

authorities. 

2. That at no time or place had either 
the Dutch or English ever " protected" 
any Indian tribes, or individual Indians, 
outside the immediate limits of the actual 
Dutch or English settlements, as against 
Spain or Venezuela or other civilized na- 
tion, or even as against any neighboring 
tribe of Indians ; in other words, that the 
alleged " Protectorate of Indians" was a 
myth, and nothing more. 

On the other hand, it is a fact of familiar 
history that the Spaniards, who claimed 
and exercised dominion and jurisdiction 
over these territories, gathered the more 
docile tribes of Indians into Mission towns 
and settlements; pursued and chastised 
those, who having been thus incorporated, 
ran away; coerced the more fierce and 



194 



savage tribes, such as the Caribs, into sub- 
mission, or drove them out, or exterminated 
them; and forced the Indians to the civil- 
izing effect of steady labor, by compelling 
them to perform it against their will. All 
this had been done openly and continuously 
for more than two centuries; yet it no- 
where appears, nor indeed has it ever been 
alleged, that the Dutch or English ever 
once protested, or instituted measures to 
prevent it, or took any notice whatever of 
the relations thus existing between the 
Spaniards and Indians in the territories 
now in dispute. What the Dutch did was 
to employ the Caribs to kidnap other In- 
dians for slaves ; to make raids for this 
purpose into territories remote from the 
frontiers of the Essequibo settlement ; and 
then to abandon these savage hirelings, 
without any show of protest or remon- 
strance, to the chastisement and tender 
mercies of the Spaniards. Surely, that was 
a novel way of "protecting" them! 

Nor had these relations changed as late 
as 1839-40. In the Northwest Coast Re- 
gion, and more particularly in that part of 
it known as the Barima region, Schom- 
burgk found what he considered "cruelty 
and oppression" practiced by the Venezue- Papers, 1840, 

lan Government on the Indians. But it Vo1, 34, 
seems never to have once occurred to him, 
nor to the British Colonial authorities with 
whom he conferred on the subject, that the 
English were, or ever had been, the " pro- 
tectors" of these unfortunate Indians, and 
therefore competent to interfere in their 



195 



behalf. Both he and the Colonial Gov- 
ernor saw but one way by which this might 
be done, and that was by so extending the 
boundaries of the Colony as to include the 
territory where these Indians lived. It 
was not till after the so-called " Schom- 
burgk line" had been actually run, and 
therefore not till after the Barima region 
had been included in a new and more ex- 
tended territorial claim, predicated upon 
B1 l89 B °° k PP 188 ' P r i° r alleged occupation by the Dutch, 
that we hear of any British anxiety about 
the welfare of the Indians. Then it was, 
for the first time, that the British Govern- 
ment instructed the Colouial authorities to 
"resist any aggressions upon the Indians"; 
and the injunction was expressly limited to 
Indians "within the line which is assumed 
" in Mr. Schomburgk's map as the bound- 
ary of the Colony." 

It thus clearly appears that no Protecto- 
rate ever existed, or was even thought of 
as a basis for a boundary claim j but that 
a boundary claim, based upon an alleged 
civilized occupation and settlement, was 
the foundation of the Protectorate of 
Indians. And this, it is scarcely necessary 
to point out, is no Protectorate at all, since 
every nation is presumed to exercise juris- 
diction within its own " assumed " territo- 
rial limits. The real test of a Protectorate 
is the protection of its objects outside the 
limits of the protecting nation's own ter- 
ritory. 



196 



Relations between . It > has been adroitly 

the Spaniards and insinuated rather than 

Indians. directly alleged, that 

the Spaniards never really possessed or 
occupied this Northwest Coast Region, 
where the Caribs lived, nor the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni Region where they roamed in 
search of red slaves ; and the inference 
sought to be drawn is that the territory in 
both regions was still res nullius and open 
to civilized occupation. Even if this were 
true (which is denied), it could not help the 
English case, because it is in evidence that Supra, Part III.,, 
there was no British occupation there prior pp ' 149, 150, 
to 1850, nor indeed till withiu the past 
fourteen years. But the facts, as proven, 
are that as early as 1768 the Spaniards 
purged both these regions of all foreign in- 
truders ; that they drove the Dutch out 
under assertion of title, and kept them out a ^^i4^^ n ~ 
ever afterwards ; and that the Dutch gov- 
ernment acquiesced. This in itself is fatal 
to any claim predicated upon Dutch occu- 
pation. But this is not all. These acts 
could not have taken place had not the 
Caribs, who inhabited the one region and 
roamed over portions of the other, already 
been under Spanish subjection. Moreover, 
the British assumption is fallacious as to 
its inferences. As late as the middle of 
the last century some of the Xew England 
settlements in Xorth America were attacked 
aud their inhabitants massacred by Indians 
who, like the Caribs, were not yet entirely 
subdued ; and the same thing occurred in 
some of the Western settlements of the 



197 



United States within the memory of men 
now living. But it will hardly be pre- 
tended that because these occurrences took 
place the lands in Massachusetts and New 
York, and later on those of Colorado and 
Wyoming, were res nullius and open to 
occupation by any civilized European 
nation. 

The patent fact is, as the evidence already 
adduced conclusively shows, that at a very 
early day — long, in fact, before either 
Dutch or English had visited Guayana — 
the Spaniards subdued all the Indians 
west of the Essequibo, except the Caribs. 
For a long time this exceptionally fierce 
and powerful tribe continued refractory, 
and roamed over territory on both sides of 
the Orinoco, as well as over some portions 
of the great Interior Basin of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni. But by the beginning of the 
eighteenth century they had been practi- 
cally subdued by the Spaniards, and con- 
fined, for the most part, to the Barima region; 
and by the middle of that century there 
were as many as seven mission settlements 
established among them, all under the im- 
mediate auspices of the Spanish govern- 
ment. Those of the tribe that were not 
thus brought under control, tamed and 
assimilated in the Spanish civilization, have 
met the usual fate of the red man in both 
the Americas, namely, complete extermina- 
tion. And since this was done by the 
Spanish nation, and by none other, it will 
hardly be seriously contended at this late 
day, in the face of well settled rules and 



198 



uniform precedent, that Spain did not 
thereby become sovereign of the territories 
over which those savages roamed until the 
time when their final subjugation or ex- 
termination took place, which was early in 
the present century. 



law, which must be considered in connec- 
tion with this monstrous claim by Great 
Britain to the Barima region ; condi- 
tions which, even if all others were 
wanting, would give to Spain and her suc- 
cessor indefeasible title to this Barima 
region. 

Xo one, we presume, who has ever per- 
sonally visited the great Delta region of 
the Orinoco, or who has carefully studied 
its geographical position and peculiar topo- 
graphical conformation, can be in any doubt 
as to its purely alluvial and comparatively 
recent origin. That the entire region, from 
the Moroco to the San Juan, and from the Docs. Wash'n Com., 

present coast line to the southern extremitv IV., Atlas, Maps 

- Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8. 

of Tortola Island, was once, and at no very 

remote geologic period, entirely covered by 

the waters of the Atlantic and of the Gulf 

of Paria, is too manifest to admit of doubt. 

The east end of the coast line then was a 

little to the southward of the Itabo-Morebo 

cano, and extended thence southwesterly a 

few miles off the left banks of the lower 

Barima and Amacuro rivers, and so around 

eastward of the Coyoni Passage to the 



Spain's Title 
to the Orinoco 
Delta Region. 



But there are other and 
if possible still more im- 
portant facts, as well as 
principles of international 



199 



ancient mouth of the Orinoco, at the head 
of the present Delta. 

The rivers Waini and Barima, which 
now cut their way many leagues through 
this newly formed alluvial region before 
reaching the eastern estuary of the Orino- 
co, once disembogued into the Atlantic 
very far to eastward, at the points where 
they now so abruptly turn their course 
westward. This remarkable deflection in 
the course of those rivers, or rather the 
fact of their having broken their passages 
westward through the mud flats to the 
lb. Id. main estuary of the Orinoco, is readily ac- 

counted for when we remember the power 
and persistence of the ocean current which 
sweeps down the coast to the Gulf. Even 
as late as a century and a half ago the 
mouth of the Waini, for instance, was not 
where it now is, but on the Atlantic coast 
many miles to the eastward. This ap- 
pears from all the maps of that region 
published early in the eighteenth century ; 
but more particularly from Gravesande's 

Docs. Wash'nCom., official ma V> made for tne Dutch West In- 
Vols. III. and dia Company in 1749, and from Hartsinck's 
Ifos. fi! 60, 61^ ma P °f 1770. Governor Gravesande, who 
had already lived in the country a quarter 
of a century, and is presumed to have been 
familiar with the coast, placed the mouth of 
the Waini about half way between the Ori- 
noco and the Essequibo ; while Hartsinck, 
who published twenty-one years later, and 
who had likewise visited the coast, placed 



200 



the mouth of that river about half way 
between the Orinoco and the Pumaron. 1 

The probabilities all are that four cen- 
turies ago, when the Spaniards first dis- 
covered and took possession of the country, 
the coast line, between the Moroco and the 
San Juan, was many miles farther south- 
ward than it now is, and that the half sub- 
merged mangrove swamps and mud islands 
then extended well up towards the head of 
the Delta, below which a white man can 
hardly live even yet. We can well under- 
stand, therefore, why it was that the first 
Spanish fortification and settlement on the 
Orinoco, established early in the sixteenth 
century, should have been located just 
above instead of below the head of the 
Delta. Even as it was the complaints of 
unhealth fulness were so strong and per- 
sistent that a Koyal Order was finally given 
to move both garrison and town farther up 
the river. 

Among the scores of channels and cross 
channels leading directly or indirectly 
from the coast to the head of this 
great Delta, there are but two which are 
navigable by ocean steamers, namely, 
the Macareo and the Navios or Orinoco 
proper. The first is available during about 
six months in the year, and then only for 
vessels not exceeding eighteen feet draught. 

1 Gravesande, as we know, was the trusted officer of the 
Dutch West India Company, and was for more than thirty- 
five years the official head of the Essequibo Colony. Hart- 
sinck, the historian and cartographer, had access to the 
Dutch archives as we have seen. Both were zealous in their 
efforts to expand the Dutch claim to its utmost limit ; and 
yet neither were able to stretch their claim to within fifty 
miles of Point Barima. 



Archivo de las In- 
dies, Vol. I., 
Parts II., III. 



Supra, Part III., 
pp. 136, 137. 



201 



The latter, which disembogues several 
leagues further eastward between Cangrejo y 
("Crab") Island and Barima Point, has a 
uniform depth of from fifty to sixty fath- 
oms, and is available for the heaviest naval 
vessels all the year round. The marine 
charts show this to be the only ship chan- 
nel of the Orinoco mouth, and that the 
used part of this channel passes within 
a pistol shot of Barima Point. They show 
also that the Carlo Barima, just inside the 
Point, furnishes an anchorage half a mile 
wide, nearly sixty miles long, and fully 
seventy-five feet deep, which is completely 
sheltered by land and forest from both sea 
aud wind. 

The Navios, then, (or El Boco de Navios, 
as this portion of the great channel is 
known), is the key not only to the south- 
eastern portion of the Delta, but to the 
great basin of the Orinoco itself — a region 
comprising an area larger than that of 
France and Italy combined. From this 
point on the coast, the Orinoco river is 
navigable by the heaviest naval vessels as 
far up as Angostura (the present city of 
Bolivar 1 ), a distance of more that three 
hundred miles. Within this distance, the 
great river receives the waters of some 
twenty other navigable streams; while 
above that point on its eastern side alone, 
it receives the waters of some ninety others; 
one of which (the Casequiere) is naviga- 
ble to the Rio Negro, which flows into the 
Amazon. On its western side, the Orino- 

l And political capital of one of the nine con- 
stituent States of the Venezuelan Kepublic. 



202 



co, above the point named, receives the 
waters of thirty-one affluents, many of 
which are navigable and penetrate the re- 
mote interior of the continent. One of 
these (the Apure) traverses the very cen- 
ter of Venezuela, and is navigable for a 
distance of more than three hundred miles. 
Another affluent (the Meta) is navigable 
by light steamers as far up as Villavicencia; 
only a few leagues from the city of Bogota, 
the capital of the Republic of Colombia. 

The Delta as a We can readily un- 

Strategic Point. derstand then, why 
Spain, while apparently making little use of 
this immense Delta swamp region, guarded 
it with such jealous care ; it was the gate- 
way to the interior where her rich posses- 
sions lay. We can understand also why 
she so persistently held the eastern side of 
the great Delta, up to its very terminus at 
the Moroco ; for as already pointed out, 
the inland waterways between that river Supra, Part I., 
and the main channel of the Orinoco, made ^art Ili 8 'pp'll2 ? 
it possible for an enemy to enter this gate- 114, 123 etseq. 
way from that side. 

These conditions have not changed since 
the independence of those provinces. If 
the exclusive control of this Delta region 
by Spain was essential to the safety of her 
interior settlements a hundred years ago, 
its exclusive control now by Venezuela is 
no less essential to the safety and integrity 
of that Republic, and not only to Vene- 
zuela, but to the welfare and tranquillity of 
other Spanish-American Republics, also. 
For it will be seen at a glance that this 



203 



arl. Papers, 1840, 
Vol. 34, p. 327. 



Schomb. Br. Gui- 
ana, p. 17. 



Schomb. Kaleigh, 
p. 115. 



navigable outlet of the Orinoco is the key 
to fully a quarter of the whole South 
American continent ; and that its control 
by Great Britain, or other great maritime 
Power, could hardly fail, in the course of 
a very few years, to work radical changes 
in the commercial relations and political 
institutions of at least three of the other 
South American Republics. 

Now the most remarkable feature of 
the English claim to this region is, 
that it was originally predicated upon 
these identical reasons. Thus Schom- 
burgk, before whose time the claim was 
never heard of, pointed out "the political 
importance of the month of the Orinoco" 
in any settlement of the boundary question 
that might be made. And he subsequent- 
ly pointed out that although the Moroco r 
Waini, and Barima are of 

comparatively small size, they are so closely con- 
" nectedby branches and tributaries [cafios ?] that they 
u afford an inland navigation from the Moroco to- 
" the Orinoco;" and that "their importance in a po- 
lt litical and commercial respect became therefore 
" evident." 

Later on, he perceived that the mouth of 
the Amacuro, a few miles above the Barima, 
offered considerable military advantages; 
and so, without the slightest pretense of 
justification, he proceeded to include that 
also in his line. 

In his edition of Raleigh's "Guiana," 
published in 1848, he has afoot-note in 
which he says that 

"A strong battery established at Punta Barima, 
" where the Dutch had as early as 1660 a fortified out- 
*' post, would prevent any vessel from entering the 
" Orinoco drawing more than eight feet of water.. 



204 



u Punta Barima, or Point Breme, as it was called by 
" the Dutch, commands entirely the entrance of the 
u Orinoco by the Boca de Navios; and when, on a 
41 late occasion, the right of possession to this point 
" was the subject of discussion between the British 
" Government and the Republic of Venezuela, Punta 
*' Barima was appropriately and emphatically styled 
M 'the Dardanelles of the Orinoco.' " 

The claim, here injected parenthetically, 
that the Dutch once had "a fortified outpost" 
at Barima Point (or indeed elsewhere west 
of the Moroco) has been shown to be with- 
out foundation. The whole story, as we 
have seen, originated from the circumstance 
of Abraham Beekman's "little shelter" on 
the upper reaches of the Barima, in 1684? 
-and which was forever abandoned almost as 
soon as built. But this ludicrous historical 
blunder does not obscure the fact that, in his 
professional capacity as an expert engineer, 
Mr. Schomburgk was quick to perceive the 
military importance of Barima Point. 

But Schomburgk was not the first to 
perceive these advantages. Humboldt had 
called attention to them nearly half a cen- 
tury before ; and so had a distinguished of- 
ficer of the British West India military ser- 
vice. In 1802, when England held military 
possession of Dutch Guiana, Major Macrae 
was sent to find out what he could about 
the Orinoco Delta region. In his report, 
he pointed out where the Spanish forts and 
military posts were, and the great strategic 
and commercial importance to Spain of 
this main mouth of the great river. He said 
the Spanish Government had obviously no 
other object in occupying and holding that 
point than 

*• the very important one of excluding other powers 



Supra, Part III., 
pp. 136, 137, 138, 
139, and docu- 
ments there cited. 



Humboldt, Pers. 
Nar., V., 714. 



Br. Blue Book 
Venez., No. 1 
(189G), p. 155. 



205 



41 from a river which runs along the rear of the Prov- 
" inces of Popayan, Venezuela, Caracas, Cumana, 
" and Paria;" 

and which, in the hands of a commercial 
"nation" would "monopolize the traffic" of 
the rich Spanish possessions in the interior, 
and which, 

" if possessed by a warlike Power, might immediate- 
" ly paralyze the authority and gradually destroy 
" the tenure by which Spain held her vast Empire 
" in South America." 

Fallacy of British It is true, this is 

Claim to Barima no t n0 w the osten- 
by Occupation. ^ reagon a]leged 

for England's claim ; nor are we con- 
cerned about conjectures as to ulterior mo- 
tives. England is now trying to make out 
title to this Barima region by occupation 
alone — that is to say, by prescription j and 
this claim has been shown to be without 
the slightest foundation. It has been 
shown that the Dutch Government, 
through which England claims prescrip- 
tive title, never made any pretense of occu- 
pation. No such pretension was set forth 
even in the formal presentation of the 
Dutch claim in 1769, nor afterwards. The 
Dutch Government alleged possession up to 
the east bank of the Moroco ; but there is 
not even a suggestion of occupation or 
possession of a foot of land west of that 
See Blue Book Ven- river - What, then, was their title to lands 

ezuela, No. 3 there ? Confessedlv thev had none : nor 
(1896), pp. 86, 87, , J . _ , , _ 

88, 90, 109, 110. "id they proiess to know where the bound- 
ary was. In their Remonstrances of 1759 
and 1769, they merely intimated a vague 
claim — a claim that the boundary extended 
" to beyond the Waini " ; and, in support 



206 



of this claim, they referred to a map of 

the continent published by the French 

geographer, D'Anville, in 1748. 

Now on the D'Anville map, thus put in 

evidence, is a dotted line extending from a 

point on the coast just below the mouth of 

the \Taini southward across the headwaters 

of the Cuyuni, and thence a little south of Docs< wash'n Com., 

eastward across the upper Essequibo to a Vol. jy«» Atlas, 
, „ . . Maps Nos. 39, 40, 

point on the coast north of the Amazon 37, 38. 

basin. This line was copied mechanically Jb Id y ol m 
from Delisle's map of the continent, pp. 49, 50, 51, 52 
published in 1722, where the author had 
employed it to indicate what was then sup- 
posed to be an equal division of the water- 
parting between the valleys drained by the 
Essequibo and Orinoco rivers. Twenty- 
six years later, when the topography of 
the country had become better known, 
D'Anville copied this line under the mani- 
fest misapprehension that it must have 
been intended as a suppositious political 
boundary instead of a regional boundary. 
Of course it was not originally so in- 2b. M. 
tended. It designated nothing more than 
a supposed regional boundary ; its subse- 
quent misapplication being the result of an 
erroneous reading — not an uncommon 
occurrence, and easily accounted for. 

But, in any event, the Remonstrance of 
1769 was, as we have seen, totally disre- supra Part III 
garded by Spain, who actually held, and 
forever afterwards continued to hold, the 
entire region west of the Moroco ; and in 
this assertion and exercise of dominion, 
the Dutch acquiesced, thus abandoning 
their shadowy claim " to beyond the 
Waini." 



207 



_' ^ But to return from 
In Law, the Delta 

Belongs to the Ate- thls short digression to 

tion which owns the point of our irnme- 

tbe Orinoco. diate i nqu i ry> The 

very importance, in a political and military 
sense, of the Orinoco mouth to the nation 
which incontestably owns and occupies the 
entire basin of that great river, is precisely 
what, above all other considerations, settles 
the question of its ownership. For it is a 
principle of international law, too well 
established to admit of controversy, that 
those who own and possess the water-shed 
and the firm banks of a river, thereby own 
and possess the delta islands and estuary 
shores below. And this is true even 
though those islands and shores be unfit 
for habitation, and have not been inhab- 
ited by civilized man ; for they are not 
terras nullius or "vacant" lands which 
another nation can appropriate, and thus 
establish a hostile control at the river's 
mouth. 

This is a rule that is not only cognate to 
those of the ancient Koman law, relative 
to alluvial deposits in general ; but it has 
been specially and affirmatively declared 
by an English Court of Admiralty, and 
uniformly recognized in the practice of 
nations since the beginning of the present 
century. 

We allude, of course, to the notable in- 
stance which occurred in 1805, during the 
war between England and Spain. A ship 
of somewhat doubtful character, but flying 
the American flag, was captured by a Brit- 



208 



pp. 373-385. 



ish privateer off the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi, more than three miles from the firm 
ground, but within the three-mile limit of 
a chain of mud islands, formed by joint 
action of river and sea, which fringed the 
coast, forming "a sort of portico to the 
mainland. " The United States was a neu- 
tral power, and claimed the ship in the 
Prize Court on the ground that the cap- 
ture was made within American territorial 
waters. In this decision of the case, Sir 
W. Scott (Lord Stowell) said : 

"We all know that the rule of Law on this sub- Case of the Anna 
"ject is, 'terrce dominum finitur, ubi finitur armo- Robinson's Ad. 
" rum vis ' ; and since the introduction of firearms, 5f ^o'4o Y^J' 
"that distance has usually been recognized to be 
" about three miles from shore. But it so happens 
" in this case, that a question arises as to what is to 
"be deemed the shore, since there are a number of 
" little mud-islands composed of earth and trees 
"drifted down by the river, which form a kind ot 
" portico to the mainland. It is contended that 
"these are not to be considered as any part of the 
" territory of America, that they are a sort of l no 
" man's land, 1 not of consistency enough to support 
" the purposes of life, uninhabited, and resorted to 
" only for shooting and taking bird's nests. It is 
" agreed that the line of territory is to be taken 
" from the Balise, which is a fort raised on made 
" land by the former Spanish possessors. I am of a 
" different opinion ; I think that the protection of 
" territory is to be reckoned from these islands ; and 
" that they are the natural appendages of the coast 
" on which they border, and from which, indeed, 
" they are formed. Their elements are derived im- 
" mediately from the territory, and on the principle 
" of alluvium and increment, on which so much is 
" to be found in the books of Law, quod vis Jluminis 
" detuo prcedio detraxerit, et vicino prcedio attulerit, 
" palam iunum remanet} even if it had been carried 
" over to an adjoining territory. Consider what the 
"consequence would be if lands of this description 
" were not considered as appendant to the mainland, 
^nst. Lib. II., Tit. i, §21. 



209 



Inst. lib. II., torn. 
I., §§20, 21. 

Cod. VII., 41 De- 
Alluvionibus. 

Vattel, L. N. lib., 
I., Chap. XXII., 
§§266, 267, 268. 



Phillimore, Law of 
Nations, p. 255, 
\\ CO XXXIX., 
CCXL, 

Wheaton, El. Int. 
Law, Chap. IV., 
§7. 



" and as comprised within the bounds of territory, 
" If they do not belong to the United States of 
"America, any other power might occupy them; 
" they might be embanked and lortified. What a 
"thorn would this be in the side of America ! It is 
" physically possible at least that they might be so 
" occupied by European nations, and then the com- 
" mand of the river would be no longer in America, 
"but in such settlements. The possibility of such a 
" consequence is enough to expose the fallacy of any 
" arguments that are addressed to shew that these 
" islands are not to be considered as part of the terri- 
" tory of America." 

This decision, now nearly a century old,, 
has never been shaken, nor even called 
into question by jurists and publicists. It 
has never been changed or modified either 
by the law courts or by the subsequent prac- 
tice of civilized nations. And indeed, why 
should it have been? It was but the 
logical application of certain general prin- 
ciples of law as old as the law itself. It 
was in strict accord with an ancient rule 
of the Roman law, and with that rule as it 
has been adopted by the law of nations. 
It has been copied or cited with approval 
by every modern English and American 
jurist of repute, and notably by both Phil- 
limore, and Wheaton, and may be said to 
be permanently incorporated iuto the great 
body of modern international law. 

The broad and comprehensive principle 
laid down in Lord Stowell's decision is of 
universal and uniform application, and has 
been so regarded by all standard authorities. 
That it is as specifically applicable to the 
delta region of the Orinoco, as it ever was 
to that of the Mississippi, is too ob- 
vious to admit of controversy. It matters 



210 



not, then, whether the Dutch or English 
«ver had or had not a trading "post" or 
other temporary establishment at the Ori- 
noco mouth ; in either case, under the 
rule here laid down, Spain or her successor 
(Venezuela), as the owner and actual occu- 
pant of the firm banks above, and of the 
entire drainage basin of that great river, is 
the legal owner of its mouths and of the 
alluvial delta region formed by it. 

And this, we may remember, is precisely 
the view taken of the case by every British 
Ministry up to 1885-6, when the so-called 
"Schomburgk line" was first proclaimed as 
an ex parte boundary. Before that time, as 
appears from the official correspondance 
herewith submitted, every Ministry recog- off Higt> Discus> 

nized the untenable character of the British Boundary Q., 

, i i • i PP. 59 " 62 - 

claim to what was styled in that correspon- 
dence as "The Dardanelles of the Orinoco"; 
and no disparagement of an ancient and 
honorable name is intended by pointing 
out that every Ministry except that of Lord 
Salisbury, offered to agree to some con- 
ventional boundary line that would (or that 
they said would) 

'"secure to Venezuela the uninterrupted possession 

" of the mouth of the Orinoco." Ib. Id. pp. 61, 62. 

But aside from all these considerations — 
sufficient in themselves to establish title 
in Venezuela — the Orinoco mouth and 
Delta region belong to Venezuela in vir- 
tue of prior occupation and exclusive polit- 
ical control by Spain through which her 
title was derived. Moreover, title is vested 
in Venezuela in virtue of her own uninter- 
rupted possession and exclusive political 



I 



Off. Hist. Dis., Part 
IV., pp. 33-38. 



Supra, Part III. 



Off. Hist. Dis. &c, 
Part II., pp. 2-5. 



Br. Blue Book, 
Venez., No. 1 
(1896), p. 233. 



211 

control of that mouth and region from the 
date of her independence of the Spanish 
Crown up to the time of the armed invasion 
by Great Britain, in 1886; for the 
Schomburgk agitation of 1841 cannot be 
deemed an interruption in law, since, by 
the Agreement of 1850, the status quo ante 
was restored, no ouster or abandonment 
having taken place in the meantime. 

From time immemorial Spain exercised 
sovereign rights over the Orinoco mouth 
and the appurtenant delta region, by means 
of pilot stations, police and military posts, 
and coast guard launches. In 1768, she 
drove out from that region all foreign in- 
truders and kept them out; so that her ex- 
clusive political control was in no wise in- 
terrupted by the Dutch traders and smug- 
glers, or by the Dutch squatters (or rather 
squatter] who attempted a habitation there. 
Thirty-four years afterwards, in 1802, as 
appears from Major Macrae's report, al- 
ready referred to, Spain still maintained 
police and military stations, and a pilotage 
and coast-guard service there ; and these 
remained intact up to the date of Venezue- 
la's declaration of independence in 1811. 

Twenty-five years after this, in 1836, 
as appears from the official correspondence 
between the British legation at Caracas 
and the Venezuelan Ministry, Venezuela, 
as the successor of Spain, still maintained 
possession and exercised exclusive political 
control there ; and these conditions had 
not changed in 1841, as appears from the 
official correspondence of that date passed 
between the Caracas and Georgetown gov- 

14V 



212 



ern meets. Nor had they changed up to 

1885, as we have already seen, when Yen- Su ? ra > Part m - 

ezuela still maintained a pilotage service, 

light ship and buoys, police and revenue 

stations there. 

It results then, that whether we rest the 
case on the principles of law as laid down 
in Lord StowelFs decision, or whether we 
rest it upon rules "a" and "b" of the present 
Treaty, Venezuela's title to the mouth of 
the Orinoco and appurtenant channels and 
harbors is clear and indisputable. This 
point, it is presumed, will hardly be further 
contested. 

But since these ap- 
Title to the North- purt enant c h an nels 
west Coast Region. 1 

and h arbors are 

very closely connected by inland naviga- 
ble waterways with the Moroco river, 
which forms the easternmost boundary of 
the Orinoco delta region, Who shall be 
deemed the rightful owners of that part of 
this alluvial formation. Is it not a part, 
and practically an inseparable part, of the 
Orinoco delta region ? 

These questions themselves suggest the 
ready and satisfactory answer. The same 
principles of public law, so lucidly ex- 
pressed by Lord Stowell, which give to Ven- 
ezuela the mouths and coast harbors of the 
Orinoco, likewise give, pari passu, these 
appurtenant channels. They are insepara- 
bly connected with the Cano Barima, and 
thence with the Boco cle Navios; and if 
these are indispensable (as they certainly 
are) to the safety and territorial integrity 



213 



of the natioa which owns and occupies the 
firm banks of the Orinoco above, so are 
the Itabo channels, the rivers Waini and 
Barima, and the Moro Passage. A hostile 
Power, by ^holding and fortifying these 
places, could easily flank the ocean entrance 
between Cangrejo Island and Point Barima, 
and thus effectually commaud the upper 
reaches of the only navigable estuary of 
the Orinoco to the head of the Delta. 

If however, in this instance, as in that of 
the Orinoco mouth proper, the broad prin- 
ciple of law as laid down by Lord Stowell 
were totally disregarded, and Venezuela 
should elect to rest her case on occupation 
or exclusive political control, as provided 
in rules "a" and "b" of the present Treaty, 
her title would still be indefeasible, not only 
to these appurtenant rivers and channels, 
but no less so to the whole Northwest Coast 
Region. For we have just seen that Spain 
exercised excl usive political control over that 
Supra. Part III. entire region from 1768 to 1811, when 
Venezuela became her successor in title ; 
and that from 1811 to 1867, and even be- 
yond to 1885, Venezuela exercised unin- 
terrupted domain and jurisdiction there. 
That is to say, with respect to the Boco de 
Navios and appurtenant harbors and chan- 
nels, her possession was actual and exclu- 
sive; while with respect to the uninhabited 
district between Cano Barima and the 
Moroco de facto line, her possession was at- 
tributive, but no less exclusive. 



214 



. , . And the same 

Title to interior 

Basin of the « true> of th ^ 

Cuyuni. great Interior 

Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni. That re- 
gion, as already described, is a distinctly 
marked Tract, effectually separated from 
the Essequibo region on the east by a rim 
of almost impassable mountains, and from 
the Coast region on the north by the un- Ib Id p drt j 
broken range of Imataca mountains. The 
topography of this Interior Basin region, 
and the history of its settlement show that n ' Idmi Part IL 
the only available approaches to it are all 
from the Orinoco side, just above the Delta. 
There has never been a successful attempt 
at settlement there from any other side; 
and therefore never auy permanent settle- 
ment there save only by Spain and her suc- 
cessor, who held the Orinoco basin. Early 
in the sixteenth century, Spain established 
permauent settlements on the east side of 
the Orinoco; and by the middle of the sev- 
enteenth century these settlements had ex- 
tended over into this Interior Basin region 
of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni, and have con- 
tinued to this day. 

Up to about 1757, the Dutch of Esse- 
quibo made no attempt to cross the natural 
barrier from their side; and when they did 
attempt to overpass it and to establish a 
slave-trader's "post" just inside the Interior 
Basin above the lower Cuyuni falls, they 
were promptly driven out, and forever af- 
terwards kept out by T the Spaniards under 
assertion of domain and jurisdiction. And 
the situation thus contiuued up to 1811; 



Ib. Id., Part I1L 



215 



Sir Travers Twiss, 
Law of Nations, 
§§122, 127. 

Ib., The Oregon 
Question, pp. 247, 
282. 

Phillimore, Int. 
Law, I., Ch.XIt. 

Lawrence, Prin. 
Int. Law, §94. 



when the allegiance of those settlements 
and all incident right of domain was trans- 
ferred, unimpaired, from Spain to Vene- 
zuela, who has never relinquished or aban- 
doned her title. 

It has been asserted that the Dutch 
settlement, made about 1626-27, on the 
Essequibo at the mouth of the Cuyuni- 
Mazaruni, some forty-five miles from the 
coast (or to be exact, at the junction of the 
two last named rivers, eight miles above 
their common mouth on the left bank of 
the Essequibo), gave Holland title to the 
entire water-shed of those two rivers. Of 
course there is no such principle of inter- 
national law. The principle adhered to in 
the settlement of the Oregon boundary 
question, between England and the United 
States, and which has never been changed 
or modified by subsequent practice, is that, 
when discovery is made from the sea, and 
the approach to the country is from the sea, 
so that the occupant of the seacoast bars 
the way to any second comer, the discov- 
erer and first occupant will be entitled to 
extend his settlement over the interior 
vacant district, provided there be no civi- 
lized power in his way. So there are two 
conditions to be observed, neither of which 
are found to have existed in the present 
case. The Dutch settlement at Kyk-over-al 
was not such as to bar approach to the 
Interior Basin of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni ; 
because all natural and available approaches 
to it were, and are still, from the opposite 
or Orinoco side. Nor was this Interior 



216 



Basin region terras nullius or " vacant" laud. 
It was already held in possession by Spain, 
which had materially occupied portions of 
it, and actually held the Tract as a ichole 
by holding the only available approaches 
to it. 

It is true that, subsequent to 1861, when 
the " gold fever " had broken out in the 
upper Cuyuni, the Colonial authorities of 
British Guiana set up an adverse claim to 
a part of this interior Basin region, and 
granted mining concessions there. But 
it was expressly stipulated, as we have 
seen, that these grants were to be accepted 
on the condition that if, in the final settle- 
ment of the boundary question, this terri- 
tory should be awarded to Venezuela 
(which still claimed and exercised domin- 
ion and jurisdiction there), the grantees 
would have no right of indemnity. They 
were to be treated as adventurers who took 
all risks. The British Government was 
not to be compromised in any way by an 
occupation thus made of territory the title 
to which was in dispute. 

Moreover, the mining camps, or so- 
called " settlements/' or police stations 
established and maintained there in conse- 
quence of those grants were never, and 
were never intended to be, settlements in 
the international sense, such as are con- 
templated in article IV. of the present 
Treaty of arbitration. They were estab- 
lished and maintained for a specific pur- 
pose, and their permanence was to depend 
upon a certain contingency named ; whereas, 



217 



a settlement, in the legal sense here con- 

Vattel, Law of Na- templated, " is a fixed residence with an in- 
tions, B. I., Ch. c . . , ^ 

XIX., g§217, 218. tention 01 always staying there/ 7 But 

how can it be said that British subjects 
acquired a fixed residence in the In- 
terior Basin region of the Cuyuni-Maza- 
runi when they accepted these " paper 
grants 77 with the express understanding 
that ouster by an adverse claimant was 
possible at almost any time in the near 
future? 

Furthermore, this occupation by British 
subjects was never at any time either 
peaceable or undisturbed; for it was, 
from the very outset, opposed by Vene- 
zuela under assertion of title and jurisdic- 
tion. At no time during its continu- 
ance was it uninterrupted, since the pro- 
tests and remonstrances of the Venezuelan 
Government were vigorous and persistent. 
Nor has the occupation or " adverse hold- 
ing- 7 been of sufficient length of time to 
give title under the provisions of rules 
u a " and " b " of the present Treaty. 

It thus appears, from the acts of the 
parties themselves, taken in connection with 
rules (i a" and "b" of the Treaty and with 
the principles of international law applica- 
ble to the case, that two of the three Tracts 
in dispute are practically eliminated from 
the controversy. The title to all lands west 
of the Moroco, and west of the eastern rim 
of the Interior Basin of the Cuyuni-Maza- 
runi, is undoubtedly in Venezuela. West 
of that natural divisional line between 
the Essequibo and Orinoco regions, and 



218 



which for more than a century prior to the 
year 1886 was the recognized de facte 
boundary, Eugland has no valid claim to 
sovereignty and jurisdiction. Whatever 
private claims there may be in consequence 
of British subjects having settled there 
within a period of time short of the fifty 
years limit, or say after the year 1846, will 
constitute a separate branch of inquiry. 
All such claims are generously provided 
for in rule "c" of the Treaty. It is for 
the Arbitrators to determine what, if any, 
consideration shall be given to such claims 
when they shall have been presented; or what 
compensation, if any, shall be awarded to 
such private claimauts in accordance with 
u reasou, justice and equity." 

With regard to territories east of this de 
facto line, while Spain has always consist- 
ently claimed, as Venezuela still claims, 
the Essequibo as the dejure boundary, the 
fact is recognized that, however legal and 
just this claim may be, and however easily 
it may be established under the recognized 
principles of international law, it must now 
be so modified as to conform to the terms 
of the agreement as expressed in rules " a " 
and " b " of the present Treaty. Venezuela 
entered into that agreement in good faith, 
and with full knowledge of its possible con- 
sequences with respect to this Essequibo- 
Pumaron Region. But we hold that since 
the original title was vested in Spain and 
not in Holland, and England derived only 
such title as Holland had in 1814, the 
burden of proof is on Great Britain to 



219 



show how and when that original title was 
destroyed or transferred. Failing in that, 
the presumptive title is in Venezuela as 
the legal successor of Spain. 



APPENDIX. 



Treaty of Arbitration for the settlement of the question of 
Boundary betweeu the Republic of Venezuela and the Colony 
of British Guiana, signed February 2, 1897. Ratifications 
exchanged June 14, 1897. 



Her Majesty the Queen of 
the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and the 
United States of Venezuela, 
being desirous to provide for 
an amicable settlement of the 
question which has arisen be- 
tween their respective govern- 
ments concerning the boun- 
dary between the Colony of 
British Guiana and the United 
States of Venezuela, have re- 
solved" to submit to arbitration 
the question involved, and 
to the end of concluding a 
treaty for that purpose, have 
appointed as their respective 
Plenipotentiaries : 

Her Majesty the Queen of 
the United Kingdom of Great 
Britaiu and Ireland, the Right 
Honorable Sir Julian Paunce- 
fote, a member of Her Maj- 
esty's Most Honorable Privy 
Council, Knight Grand Cross 
of the Most Honorable Order 
of the Bath and of the Most 
Distinguished Order of St. 
Michael and St. George, and 



Los Estados Unidos de 
Venezuela y Su Majestad la 
Reina del Reino Unido de la 
Gran Bretana e Irlanda, de- 
seando estipular o1 arreglo 
amistoso de la cu< i6i que se 
ha suscitado entre ... .espect- 
ivos Gobiernos acerca del lim- 
ite de los Estados Unidos de 
Venezuela y la Colonia de la 
Guayana Britanica, han re- 
suelto someter dicha cuestion 
a arbitramento, y a fin de con- 
cluir con ese objeto un trata- 
do, han elegido por sus re- 
spectivos Plenipotenciarios: 

El Presidente de los Es- 
tados Unidos de Venezuela, al 
Senor Jose Andrade, Enviado 
Extraordinario y Ministro 
Pleuipotenciario de Vene- 
zuela en los Estados Unidos 
de America: 

Y Su Majestad la Reina del. 
Reino Unido de la Gran Bre- 
tana e Irlanda al Muy Hon- 
orable Sir Julian Pauncefote, 
Miembro del Muy Honorable 
Consejo Privado de Su Maj- 



222 



her Majesty's Ambassador 
Extraordinary and Plenipo- 
tentiary to the United States; 

And the President of the 
United States of Venezuela, 
Sefior Jose Andrade, Envoy 
Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary of Venezuela 
to the United States of Amer- 
ica : 

Who, having communi- 
cated to each other their re- 
spective full powers, which 
were found to be in due and 
proper form, have agreed to 
and concluded the following 
articles : 

Article I. 

An arbitral tribunal shall 
•be immediately appointed to 
determine the boundary line 
between the Colony of British 
Guiana aud the United States 
of Venezuela. 

Article II. 

The tribuual shall consist 
of five jurists: Two on the 
part of Great Britain, nomi- 
nated by the members of the 
•Judicial Committee of Her 
Majesty's Privy Council, 
namely, the Right Honorable 
Baron Herschell, Knight 
" Grand Cross of the Most Hon- 
orable Order of the Bath; and 



estad, Caballero Gran Cruz 
de la Muy Honorable Orden 
del Bano y de la Muy Distin- 
guida Orden de San Miguel 
y San Jorge, y Embajador 
Extraordinario y Plenipoten- 
ciario de Su Maj estad en los 
Estados Unidos : 

Quienes, habiendose com- 
unicado sus respectivos plenos 
poderes que fueron hallados 
en propia y debida forma, han 
acordado y concluido los ar- 
ticulos siguientes: 



Articulo I. 

Se nombrara inmediata- 
mente un Tribunal arbitral 
para determinar la liuea divi- 
soria entre los Estados Uuidos 
de Venezuela y la Colonia de 
la Guayana Brit&uica. 

Articulo II. 

El Tribunal se compondra* 
de cinco Juristas ; dos de parte 
de Venezuela, nombrados, uno 
por el Presidente de los Es- 
tados Unidos de Venezuela, 
& saber, el Honorable Mel- 
ville Weston Fuller, Justicia 
Mayor de los Estados Unidos 
de America, y uno por los 
Justicias de la Corte Suprema 



223 



the Honorable Sir Richard 
Henri Collins, Knight, one of 
the Justices of Her Britaunic 
Majesty's Supreme Court of 
Judicature; two on the part 
of Venezuela nominated, one 
by the President of the Uni- 
ted States of Venezuela, 
namely, the Honorable Mel- 
ville Weston Fuller, Chief 
Justice of the United States 
of America, and one nomi- 
nated by the Justices of the 
Supreme Court of the United 
States of America, namely, 
the Honorable David Josiah 
Brewer, a Justice of the Su- 
preme Court of the United 
States of America ; and of a 
fifth jurist to be selected by 
the four persons so nomi- 
nated, or, in the event of 
their failure to agree within 
three months from the date 
of the exchange of ratifica- 
tions of the present treaty, to 
be selected by His Majesty 
the King of Sweden and Nor- 
way. The jurist so selected 
shall be president of the tri- 
bunal. 

In case of the death,, ab- 
sence or incapacity to serve 
of any of the lour arbitrators 
above named, or in the event 
of any such arbitrator omit- 
ting or declining or ceasing. 



de los Estados Unidos de ■ 
America, a saber, el Honora- 
ble David Josiah Brewer, Jus- 
ticia de la Corte Suprema de 
los Estados Unidos de Amer- 
ica; dos de parte de la Gran 
Bretana nombrados por los 
miembros de la Comision Ju- 
dicial del Consejo Privado de 
Su Majestad, a saber, el Muy 
Honorable Baron Herschell, . 
Caballero Gran Cruz de la 
Muy Honorable Orden del 
Baiio, y el Honorable Sir 
Richard Heun Collins, Ca- 
ballero, uno de los Justicias 
de la Corte Suprema de Judi- 
catura de Su Majestad; y de • 
un quinto Jurista, que sera 
elegido por las cuatro per- 
sonas asi nombradas, 6, en el 
evento de no lograr ellas 
acordarse en la designaeion 
dentro de los tres meses con- 
tados desde la fecha del canje 
de las ratificaciones del pre- 
sente Tratado, por Su Majes- 
tad el Key de Suecia y Nor- 
uega. El Jurista a quien asi 
se elija sera Presidente del 
Tribunal. 

En caso de muerte, au- 
sencia 6 incapacidad para 
servir de cualquiera de los 
cuatro Arbitros arriba men- 
cionados, 6 en el evento de 
que alguno de ellos no llegue 



224 



to act as such, another jurist 
of repute shall be forthwith 
substituted iu his place. If 
such vacancy shall occur 
among those nominated on 
the part of Great Britain the 
substitute shall be appointed 
by the members for the time 
being of the Judicial Com- 
mittee of Her Majesty's Privy 
Council, acting by a majority, 
and if among those nominated 
on the pert of Venezuela he 
shall be appointed by the 
Justices of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, acting 
by a majority. If such vacancy 
shall occur iu the case of the 
fifth arbitrator, a substitute 
shall be selected in the man- 
ner herein provided for with 
regard to the original appoint- 
ment. 

Article III. 

The tribunal shall inves- 
tigate and ascertain the ex- 
tent of the territories belong- 
ing to or that might lawfully 
be claimed by the United 
Xetherlauds or by the King- 
dom of Spain, respectively, at 
the time of the acquisition by 
Great Britain of the Colony 
of British Guiana — and shall 
determine the boundary line 
between the Colony of British 



a ejercer las funciones de tal 
por omision, renuncia 6 cesa- 
ci6n, se sustituira inmediata- 
mente por otro Jurista de 
reputaci<'>u. Si tal vacante 
ocurre entre los nombrados 
por parte de Venezuela, el 
sustituto sera elegido por los 
Justicias de la Corte Suprema 
de los Estados Unidos, de 
America por mayoria ; y si 
ocurriere entre los nombrados 
por parte de la Gran Bretana, 
elegiran al sustituto, por may- 
oria, los que fueren entonces 
miembros de la Comision 
Judicial del Consejo Privado 
de Su Majestad. Si vacare el 
puesto de qui n to Arbitro, se 
le elegira sustituto del modo 
aqui estipulado en cuanto al 
nombramieuto primitivo. 

Aeticulo III. 

El Tribunal investigara y 
se cerciorara de la extension 
de los territorios pertenecien- 
tes a las Provincias Unidas de 
los Palses Bajos 6 al Reino de 
Espafia respectivamente, 6 que 
pudieran ser legitimamente 
reclamados por aquellas o este, 
al tiempo de la adquisicion de 
la Colonia de la Guayaua Bri- 
tanica por la Gran Bretana, 
v determinara la linea divis- 



225 



Guiana and the United States 
of Venezuela. 

Article IV. 

In deciding the matters 
submitted, the arbitrators 
shall ascertain all facts which 
they deem necessary to a de- 
cision of the controversy, and 
shall be governed by the fol- 
lowing rules, which are agreed 
upon by the high contracting 
parties as rules to be taken 
as applicable to the case, and 
by such principles of inter- 
national law not inconsistent 
therewith as the arbitrators 
shall determine to be appli- 
cable to the case. 

Rules. 

(a) Adverse holding or 
prescription during a period 
of fifty years shall make a 
good title. The arbitrators 
may deem exclusive political 
control of a district as well 
as actual settlement thereof 
sufficient to constitute adverse 
holding or to make title by 
prescription. 

(b) The arbitrators may 
recognize and give effect to 
rights and claims resting on 
any other ground whatever 
valid according to interna- 



oria entre los Estados Unidos 
de Venezuela y la Colonia de 
la Guayana Britanica. 

Articulo IV. 

Al decidirlos asuntos some- 
tidos a los Arbitros, estos se 
cercioraran detodos los hechos 
que estimen necesarios para 
la decision de la controversia, 
y se gobernaran por las sig- 
uientes reglas en que estau 
convenidas las Altas Partes 
contratantes como reglas que 
han de considerarse aplicables 
al caso, y por los principios 
de derecho internacional no 
incompatibles con ellas, que 
los Arbitros juzgaren aplica- 
bles al mismo : 

Reglas : 

(a) Una posesion adversa 
6 prescripcion por el termino 
de cincuenta anos constituira 
un buen titulo. Los Arbitros 
podran estimar que la domi- 
nacion politica exclusiva de un 
distrito, asi como la efectiva 
colonizacion de el, son sufi- 
cientes para constituir una 
posesion adversa 6 crear titulo 
de prescripcion. 

(6) Los Arbitros podran 
reconocer y bacer efectivos 
derechos y reivindicaciones 
que se apoyen en cualquier 



tioual law and on any prin- 
ciples of international law 
which the arbitrators may 
deem to be applicable to the 
case and which are not in 
contravention of the forego- 
ing rule. 

(c) In determining the 
boundary line, if territory of 
one party be found by the 
tribunal to have been at the 
date of this treaty in the oc- 
cupation of the subjects or 
citizens of the other party, 
such effect shall be given to 
such occupation as reason, 
justice, the principles of in- 
ternational law and the equi- 
ties of the case shall, in the 
opinion of the tribunal re- 
quire. 

Article V. 

The arbitrators shall meet 
at Paris, within sixty days 
after the delivery of the 
printed arguments mentioned 
in Article VIII, and shall 
proceed impartially and care- 
fully to examine and decide 
the questions that have been 
or shall be laid before them 
as herein provided on the 
part of the Governments of 
Her Britannic Majesty and 
the United States of Vene- 
zuela respectively. 

Provided always that the 



otro fundamento valido con- 
forme al derecho interna- 
cional, y en cualesquiera 
principios de derecho interna- 
cional, que los Arbitros esti- 
men aplicables al caso y que 
no contravengan a la regla 
precedente. 

(c) Al determinar la Hnea 
divisoria, si el Tribunal 
hallare que territorio de una 
parte ha estado en la fecha de 
este Tratado ocupado por los 
ciudadanos 6 subditos de la 
otra parte, se dara a tal ocu- 
pacion el efecto que, en opin- 
ion del Tribunal, requieran 
la razon, la justicia, los prin- 
cipios del derecho interna- 
cional, y la equidad del caso. 

Articulo V. 

Los Arbitros se reuniran 
en Paris dentro de los sesenta 
dlas despues de la entrega de 
los argumentos impresos 
mencionados en el Articulo 
VIII, y procederan a exami- 
nar y decidir imparcial y 
cuidadosamente las cuestiones 
que se les hayan sometido 6 
se les presentaren, segun aqui 
se estipula, por parte de los 
Gobiernos de los Estados 
Unidos de Venezuela y de So. 
Majestad Britauica respec- 
tivamente. 



227 



arbitrators may, if they shall 
think fit, hold their meetings 
or any of them at any other 
place which they may deter- 
mine. 

All questions considered 
by the tribunal, including 
the final decision, shall be 
determined by a majority of 
all the arbitrators. 

Each of the high contract- 
ing parties shall name one 
person as its agent to attend 
the tribunal and to represent 
it generally in all matters 
connected with the tribunal. 



Article VI. 

The printed case of each 
of the two parties, accom- 
panied by the documents, the 
official correspondence, and 
other evidence on which each 
relies, shall be delivered in 
duplicate to each of the arbi- 
trators and to the agent of 
the other party as soon as may 
be after the appointment of 
the members of the tribunal, 
but within a period not ex- 
ceeding eight months from 
the date of the exchange of 
the ratifications of this treaty. 

15V 



Pero queda siempre entcn- 
dido que los Arbitros, si lo 
juzgan conveniente, podran 
celebrar sus reuniones, 6 
algunas de el las, en cualquier 
otro lugar que determinen. 

Todas las cuestiones con- 
sideradas por el Tribunal, 
inclusive la decision defin- 
itiva, serau resueltas por 
mayorla de todos los Ar- 
bitros. 

Cada una de las Altas 
Partes Contratantes nom- 
brara como su Agente una 
persona que asista al Tribunal 
y la represente generalmente 
en todos los asuntos conexos 
con el Tribunal. 

Articulo VI. 

Tan pronto como sea pos- 
ible despues de nombrados 
los miembros del Tribunal, 
pero dentrode un plazo que no 
excedera de ocho meses con- 
tados desde la fecha del canje 
de las ratificaciones de este 
Tratado, se entregara por du- 
plicado a cada uno de los Ar- 
bitros y al Agente de la otra 
parte, el Alegato impreso de 
cada una de las dos partes, 
acompanado de los documen- 
tos, la correspondencia oficial 
y las demas pruebas, en que 
cada una se apoye. 



228 



Article VII. 

Within four months after 
the delivery on both sides of 
the printed case, either party 
may in like manner deliver 
in duplicate to each of the said 
arbitrators, and to the agent 
of the other party, a counter 
case, and additional docu- 
ments, correspondence, and 
evidence, in reply to the case, 
documents, correspondence, 
and evidence so presented by 
the other party. 

If, in the case submitted to 
the arbitrators, either party 
shall have specified or alluded 
to any report or document in 
its own exclusive possession, 
without annexing a copy, such 
party shall be bound, if the 
other party thinks proper to 
apply for it, to furnish that 
party with a copy thereof, and 
either party may call upon 
the other, through the arbi- 
trators, to produce the orig- 
inals or certified copies of any 
papers adduced as evidence, 
giving in each instance notice 
thereof within thirty days af- 
ter delivery of the case ; and 
the original or copy so re- 
quested shall be delivered as 
soon as may be, and within a 
period not exceeding forty 
days after receipt of notice. 



Articulo VII. 

Dentro de los cuatro meses 
siguientes a la entrega por 
ambas partes del Alegato im- 
preso, una u otra podra del 
mismo modo entregar por du- 
plicado a cada uuo de dichos 
Arbitros, y al Agente de la 
otra parte, un contra- Alegato 
y nuevos documentos, corre- 
spondencia y pruebas, para 
contestar al Alegato, docu- 
mentos, correspondencia y 
pruebas preseutados por la 
otra parte. 

Si en el Alegato sometido 
a los Arbitros una u otra parte 
hubiere especificado 6 citado 
algun in forme 6 documento 
que este en su exclusiva po- 
sesion, sin agregar copia, tal 
parte quedara obligada, si la 
otra cree conveuiente pedirla, 
a suministrarle copia de ela 
y una u otra parte podra exci- 
tar a la otra, por medio de los 
Arbitros, a producir los orig- 
inales 6 copias certificadas de 
lospapeles aducidos como pru- 
ebas, dando en cada caso aviso 
de esto dentro de los treiuta 
dlas despues de la presenta- 
cion del Alegato ; y el orig- 
inal 6 la copia pedidos se en- 
tregaran tan pronto como sea 
posible y dentro de un plazo 
que no exceda de cuarenta 



229 



Article VIII. 

It shall be the duty of the 
agent of each party, within 
three months after the expi- 
ration of the time limited for 
the delivery of the counter 
case on both sides, to deliver 
in duplicate to each of the 
said arbitrators and to the 
agent of the other party a 
printed argument showing the 
points and referring to the ev- 
idence upon which his Gov- 
ernment relies, and either 
party may also support the 
same before the arbitrators by 
oral argument of counsel ; 
and the arbitrators may, if 
they desire further elucida- 
tion with regard to any point, 
require a written or printed 
statement or argument, or oral 
argument by counsel, upon it; 
but in such case the other 
party shall be entitled to reply 
either orally or in writing, 
as the case may be. 

Article IX. 

The arbitrators may, for 
any cause deemed by them 
sufficient^ enlarge either of the 
periods fixed by Articles VI., 
VII., and VIII. by the al- 



dias despues del recibo del 
aviso. 

Articulo VIII. 

El Agente de cada parte, 
dentro de los tres meses des- 
pues de la expiracion del 
tiempo senalado para la en- 
trega del contra- Alegato por 
ambas partes, debera entregar 
por duplicado a cada uno de 
dichos Arbitros y al Agente 
de la otra parte un argumento 
impreso que senale los puntos 
y cite las pruebas en que se 
funda su Gobierno, y cual- 
quiera de las dos partes podra 
tambien apoyarlo ante los 
Arbitros con argumentos 
orales de su Abogado ; y los 
Arbitros podran, si desean 
mayor esclarecimiento con re- 
specto a algun punto, requerir 
sobre el una exposicion 6 ar- 
gumento escritos 6 impresos, 
6 argumentos orales del Abo- 
gado ; pero en tal caso la otra 
parte tendra derecho a coutes- 
tar oralmente 6 por escrito, 
segun fuere el caso. 

Articulo IX. 

Los Arbitros por cualquier 
causa que juzguen suficiente 
podran prorrogar uno u otro 
de los plazos fijados en los 
Articulos VI, VII y VIII, 



230 



lowaoce of thirty days addi- 
tional. 

Aktkle X. 

The decision of the tribu- 
nal shall, if possible, be made 
within three months from the 
close of the argument on both 
sides. 

It shall be made in writing 
and dated, and shall be signed 
by the arbitrators who may 
assent to it. 

The decision shall be in 
duplicate, one copy whereof 
shall be delivered to the 
agent of Great Britain for his 
Government, and the other 
copy shall be delivered to the 
agent of the United States of 
Venezuela for his Govern- 
ment. 

Article XL 

The arbitrators shall keep 
an accurate record of their 
proceedings and may appoint 
and employ the necessary of- 
ficers to assist them. 

Article XII. 

Each Government shall pay 
its own agent and provide for 
the proper remuneration of 
the counsel employed by it 
and of the arbitrators ap- 
pointed by it or in its behalf, 



concediendo treiuta dfas adi- 
cionales. 

Articulo X. 

Si fuere posible, el Tribu- 
nal dara su decision dentro 
de tres meses contados desde 
que termine la argumentacion 
por ambos lados. 

La decision se dara por es- 
crito, llevara fecha y se firma- 
ra, porlos Arbitros que asien- 
tan k el la. 

La decision se extendera 
por duplicado ; de ella se en- 
tregara un ejemplar al Agente 
de los Estados L^nidosde Ven- 
ezuela para su Gobierno, y 
el otro se entregara al Agente 
de la Gran Bretaiia para su 
Gobierno. 

Articulo XL 

Los Arbitros Uevar&n un 
registro exacto de sus procedi- 
mientos y podran elegir y em- 
plear las personas que necesi- 
ten para su ayuda. 

Articulo XII. 

Cada Gobierno pagara a su 
propio Agente y proveera la 
remuneracion conveniente 
para el Abogado que emplee 
y para los Arbitros elegidos 
por el 6 en su nombre, y cos- 



231 



and for the expense of pre- 
paring and submitting its case 
to the tribunal. All other ex- 
penses connected with the ar- 
bitration shall be defrayed by 
the two Governments, in 
equal moieties. 

Article XIII. 

The high contracting par- 
ties engage to consider the re- 
sult of the proceedings of the 
tribunal of arbitration as a 
full, perfect, and final settle- 
ment of all the questions re- 
ferred to the arbitrators. 

Article XIV. 

The present treaty shall be 
duly ratified by Her Britan- 
nic Majesty and by the Pres- 
ident of the United States of 
Venezuela, by and with the 
approval of the Congress 
thereof; and the ratifications 
shall be exchanged in London 
or in Washington within six 
months from the date hereof. 

In faith whereof, we, the 
respective Plenipotentiaries, 
have signed this treaty and 
have hereunto affixed our 
seals. 



teara los gastos de la prepara- 
cion y sometimiento de su 
causa al Tribunal. Los dos 
Gobiernos satisfaran por par- 
tes iguales todos los demas 
gastos relativos al arbitra- 
mento. 

Articulo XIII. 

Las altas Partes Contratan- 
tes se obligan a considerar el 
resultado de los proceclimien- 
tos del Tribuual de Arbitra- 
mento como arreglo pleno, 
perfecto y definitivo de todas 
las cuestiones sometidas a los 
arbitros. 

Articulo XIV. 

El presente Tratado sera 
debidamente ratificado por el 
Presidente delos EstadosUni- 
dos de Venezuela con la apro- 
bacion del Congreso de ellos, 
y por Su Majestad Britanica : 
y las ratificaciones se canjea- 
ran en Washington 6 en Lon- 
dres dentro de los seis meses 
contados desde la fecha del 
presente tratado. 

En fe de lo cual los re- 
spectivos Plenipotenciarios 
hemos firmado este tratado 
y le hemos puesto nuestros 
sellos. 



232 



Done iu duplicate at Wash- 
ington, the second day of 
February, one thousand eight 
hundred and ninety-seven. 
JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. [seal.] 
JOSE ANDRADE. [seal.] 



Hecho por duplicado en 
Washington, a dos de Feb- 
rero, de mil ochocientos 
noventa y siete. 
JOSE ANDRADE. [sello.] 
JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. sello.] 



GENERAL INDEX. 



Pages. 

INTRODUCTION 1-8 

Arbitration, Treaty of Feb. 2, 1897 1-5 

Rules agreed upon 4 

Origin of the dispute 5-7 

Intervention by United States 7-8 

Documents of the Washington Commission in evidence. 7-8 

PART I. The Territories in Dispute 9-26 

Guayana, Its Geographical — 

Position 9 

Partition of 10-11 

Disputed Territories denned 11-12 

Three well denned Tracts 12 

1. The Northwest Coast Region . 12-14 

Its Topography 17-19 

2. Interior Cuyuni-Mazaruni Basin 14-15 

Its Topography 19-25 

3. Essequibo-Pumaron Region 15-16, 26 

PART II. Discovery and Occupation 27-70 

(1498—1648) 

General Principles 27-30 

Spain the first Discoverer of Guayana . . . 30-33 

Condition of the Country in 1595 32, 33-37 

No evidence that the Dutch were there prior to 1597. . . . 38-37 

Sir W. Raleigh's Expeditions of 1595 38-46 

Cabeliau's Report of 1599 40-42 

The Spaniards then in full possession of disputed territory .41-42 

Raleigh's Disastrous Defeat 44, 46, 47 

He left the Spaniards in full possession, 1618 46 

Early Spanish Mission Settlements 46-48 

Dutch occupation prior to 1627, No evidence of 48-67 

Prof. Jameson's opinion as to 56 

First Dutch voyage to Guayana was in 1597-8 56-59 

Evidence in Dutch Archives 58-59 

The Dutch in Essequibo 60-62 

Dutch West India Company 63-66 

Its Territorial Limits 64 67 

Essequibo Settlement, origin of , 67-70 

Its condition in 1648 68-69 



234 



PART III. Act of the Parties— 

(Period from 1648 to 1814) 71-125 

Miinster, Treat)' of, 164S 71-77 

Its Interpretation. 72, 73-76 

Subsequent occupations by the Dutch. % 77-87 

As to the Pumaron region 87-91 

Boundary in 1838, 1843, 1875 89-91 

Dutch towns and villages, none, etc. 91-92 

Dutch " Posts," nature and extent of 93-125 

Cuyuni " Post " of 1703 95-97 

The Indian Slave Trade 97-98 

Cuyuni 11 Post " of 1758 98-105 

Its location 99 

Its nature and character 99, 100-102 

Diplomatic action as to 102-105 

The result 105 

Spain held possession of the Interior Basin 

of the Cuyuni-Mazaruni from 1769 onwards .... 105-111 

Pumaron- Wacupo-Moroco Post 111-114 

Removed to east bank of the Moroco about 1726 114-120 

Its site 115-116 

Its object 116, 117, 118 

Removed down to the coast 120-125 

Its site ib.id 

Its condition in 1802 121-125 

The Barima " Post," a myth 125-139 

Beekman's ' 'little shelter" of 1684 127-130 

Not approved by the Company 130-131 

Subsequent correspondence as to 131.-134 

The Swedish claim, etc 132 et seq. 

Why the Caribs wanted a Post in Barima 134-135 

Story of the Barima " Post ; ' and how it originated . . . 136-139 
Dutch Passports in evidence 139-141 

They show that Barima was Spanish territory ib. id. 

Dutch " claim " to right bank of the upper Barima . . . 141-146 
Never sustained by Dutch Government 

or by the West India Co 144-146 

And forever abandoned 145, 146, 147, 148 

Conditions not changed in 1827 < . . . 148 

Nor in 1836 ib. id. 

Nor in 1846 149 

Nor in 1850 149-150 

Be Facto Boundary Line (1769-1814) 

As shown by acts of the parties 150-154 

Location of that Line 152, 154 



235 



PART IV. 

Principles of International law applicable to the case . . 155-217 
Original Acquisition, Doctrine of 155-156 

Three kinds of Possession 156 

Prescription, nature of 156-158 

As applied between nations 160-164 

Acquisition, modes of by nations 158-159 

Holland not the Discoverer 164 

Nor the first occupant ib. id. 

But a Disseizor 168 

Spain the first occupant 165 

Nature of her occupation 166-167 

Attributive possession 167-169 

Error of Br. Blue Book as to ib. id. 

Nature of the Dutch-English title 169-179 

Cession of 1648, nature of 171-174 

Dutch claim by prescription 174-177 

English claim by prescription 176-178, 184-188 

Prescription under Rules "a" and a b" of (Art. IV.) 

The Treaty , . 179-182 

Private interests protected by Rule " c" of the Treaty . . 182-184 

British claim, analysis of 184-188 

As to "Protectorates " of Indians 188-195 

Protectorates imply sovereignty in Indians 

And therefore could not have existed 189-190 

But as a matter of fact no Dutch or English 

Protectorate of Indians ever existed 192-194 

Conditions had not changed in 1839-1840 . 194-196 

Relations between the Spaniards and Indians 196-198 

Orinoco Delta Region. 

Spain's title to 198-212 

Description of the Delta ib. 199-201 

Boco de Navios 201 

Its importance to Venezuela ib. 202 

The Delta as a strategic point 202-203 

Barima Point. 

Importance of to Venezuela 203-205 

The British claim to by occupation, without foundation . 205-20H 

And less so by law 207-212 

Lord Stowell's Decision 208-209 

Now part of the Law of Nations 209-210 

Views of the British Ministry, as to, prior to 1885-6 . . 210-211 

Northwest Coast Region, Title to in Venezuela 212-214 

Interior Basin Region, Title to in Venezuela 214-217 

Mouths of Rivers, law as to 215 



236 



No British settlements west oi de facto line of 1769 

Prior to 1S61 216 

And these were not settlements in the le^al sense . - • 216-217 

And lack all the elements of Prescription 217 

APPENDIX 221-282 



CASE OF VENEZUELA. 

BRIEF 

CONCERNING THE QUESTION OF BOUNDARY BETWEEN 
VENEZUELA AND BRITISH GUIANA. 

BY 

WILLIAM L. SCRUGGS 

OF COUNSEL. 



SUBMITTED TO THE TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATORS CONSTITUTED IN CONFORMITY WITH 
THE TREATY OF FEBRUARY 2, 1897. 



